A rare non-fiction book from Sebastian Faulks although written very much like fiction. These three lives are linked not only by their shortness. They all seem to represent a particular type of Englishness. Furthermore, each life represents a small but very effective snapshot of the era in which they lived - Christopher Wood epitomises the bohemian roaring twenties artistic milieu of London and Paris: Richard Hillary, Spitfire pilot, is an icon for the Second World War generation: and Jeremy Wolfenden is at the heart of the Cold War spying scandals of the 1950s and 60s. The other thing they have in common is that they all had very close relationships with their mothers, but cold and distant fathers.

These are three stories about young Englishmen who start off very promising and then head for disaster (and death at a very young age). It's very sad, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to take from that.

This book tells the story of Christopher Wood (1901-1930), Richard Hillary (1919-1943), and Jeremy Wolfenden (1934-1965)—the fatal Englishmen, artist, fighter pilot and spy. I enjoyed the book but was not sure how to review it.

That provocative title led me to anticipate that Faulks would use the three lives to adduce an overarching or connecting theme related to the abbreviated lives of three Englishmen of the first half of the 20th century.

In a two-page Author’s Note at the beginning, Faulks writes: «  The book [Remembering Denny by Calvin Trillin] made me think that young or short lives are more sensitive indicators of the pressures of public attitudes » than longer lives. He continues, writing that the three lives taken together « might well seem full enough to take away the sense of ‘so what’ that would cling to a single short life. »

Having undersold his project, the author continues by saying, in effect, BUT IF they « actually had achieved something interesting and if they were to come from different parts of the century and so have lived against a different public background and thus illustrate the impact of changing attitudes and preoccupations over a long period... ». Yes, the dots are his. And, no, Faulks certainly does not spell out the impact of changing attitudes... It seemed a bizarre introduction and an act of misdirection.

What the book does well is tell the stories of the three men and those stories are gripping and poignant, they did achieve interesting things and lived through interesting times. Their lives no doubt do illustrate something or other of a social/historical nature, but Faulks let me down in that regard.

So I really liked this book and am glad to have learned about three people I had never heard of. Just don’t read the Author’s Note!!

Recommendation from Jennie (@foxedquarterly) - 11/30/2017

The Christopher Wood story was not very engaging and I almost put the book down. But perseverance paid off, the Hillary and Wolfenden sections were riveting.

I did not find the biographical accounts too interesting. I hope Mr Faulks sticks to fiction as he is an excellent writer.

I have conflicting feelings about this book and found it incredibly frustrating at times. I didn't enjoy the first part about Christopher Wood, and nearly abandoned reading as the content was very dry.  It took me a month to read the first 100 pages.


The sections on Richard Hillary and Jeremy Wolfenden were far more engaging, and this may reflect the wider range of content Faulks was able to draw upon when researching these men.  I think Wolfenden’s story in particular benefited from Faulk’s interviews with his family and friends.  


I'd rate the three sections as 1.5 for Wood, 3.5 for Hillary, and 4 for Wolfenden.  A generous 3* overall because it took me 2.5 months to finish.

Three short lives, one great book!!

A strange old looking book found in a charity shop in Felixstowe. Strange in that it is a non-fiction work by the author and focusses on three Englishmen who died young. Before reading I quickly went to Wikipedia to read up on them. But their short lives are fleshed out more fully in the book.

All three men are really touched by War. Wood is the first British painter to have been successful in France. A gay man who through drink and drugs finally throws himself in front of a train. Hillary is a fighter pilot who tragically suffers burns. Being rebuilt by the pioneering plastic surgeons in East Grinstead. Finally choosing to return to training exercises when he didn’t need to and dying in a plane crash. Only being identified by his watch and his coffin being filled by sand. Wolfenden I found the saddest of the three. A homosexual exploited by both the UK and Russian secret services. He dies from over drinking. Although there is a suggestion the CIA finished him off.

Faulks stories are dry but well written with quotes, interviews and his musings.

Why these men? They are all three the brilliant, flawed, representatives of their generation - products of idiosyncratic English structures and systems. Peaking too soon, dying too young; they overlap and so it is surprising that they represent such differing ways of viewing the world, and of, presumably, the changing position of England in the world. Wood is indifferent to what happens around him, Hillary is responding to and in reaction against the WWII spirit, and becomes part of the myth-making of the times. Wolfenden ‘had been developing the idea of deliberate underachievement as the only honest response to a society whose own idea of achievement he believed to be false.’ All three seem to lack any instinct of self-preservation, some other motivating force drives them - perhaps it is not a passive lack of self-preservation, but an active self-destruction, perhaps in some vague way they represent the best of a flawed country that ultimately failed them.

My first flitation with Faulks and what an introduction.

Loved it!