(See all my Book Reviews and Author Interviews) – Author ZENO published the novel The Cauldron in 1966. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of violence. While this is a fiction novel, it is based upon the author’s first hand experience at Arnhem.
The novel follows a British Pathfinder Parachute platoon during Operation Market Garden. The story begins with their landing and carries through to their final withdrawal. The bloody Battle of Arnhem, which lasted from 17 to 26 September 1944, is depicted. Many members of the platoon are wounded or killed. The novel presents a vivid image of the vicious battle that the British Paratroopers had to endure. You get to know the members of this fictitious platoon over the 22 chapters of the novel.
I enjoyed the 7.5+ hours I spent listening to this 278-page WWII action-packed novel. I listened to the novel as it was read by Al Murray. He, along with historian James Holland, are the co-hosts of the We Have Ways of Making You Talk WWII history podcast. This is one of several WWII history podcasts that I follow. On 23 March 2020, a 22 episode series was begun. Each episode is a different chapter of the novel. If you are interested in WWII and listen to podcasts, this is one I would recommend. I rate this book as a 4 out of 5.
Further Information:
My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).
If you have an interest in the WWII era of history, you may find these three pages of interest.
- The “World War II Resources” page is a constantly growing collection of more than 570 links to museums, memorials, websites, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and other sources with information on the World War II era in history.
- The “World War II Timeline” page expands almost daily and shows events leading up to WWII, as well as during the war. Events are broken down into the Pacific and European Theaters by date.
- The About WWII page is a collection of links to posts that I have made over the years that are relevant to WWII.
John's Notes 