Covenant With Death

[mhurst]

I know that there have been posts about John Harris's book, "Covenant With Death", and that some of them have been disparaging about its accuracy. However I have been unable to find the relevant threads. I first read the book soon after it came out, at the age of thirteen, and along with my first visit to the IWM, it kindled my interest in the FWW, which has never left me. I re-read the book a few years ago, after managing to find a copy through the bookseller Fullertons, and I was gratified to find that it had lost none of its power. I daresay it did contain some historical inaccuracies (I am not well versed enough in the details of the raising of the Kitchener armies, or of the Somme battle to say otherwise) but surely the sense of optimism, and the comradeship of the Pals battalions were well portrayed, along with their swift and tragic destruction in the opening moments of the battle?

There are many fine personal accounts of the war, but does anyone know of a better novel set during that time?

[David Filsell]

There may be some factual errors in the book - when it was written much of the information now readily availabale to authors was much more difficult to fine (and to verify). It remains in my opinion a superb Great War novel and one well worth reading. First editions are now very pricey

[Steven Broomfield]

I'd agree with David: it's a while since I last read it, but I think it's a splendid book (if you take all the soppy love stuff out)

[Guest exuser1]

I must agree with the above comments ,i was recommended this by a friend over 35 years ago and found it a superb read , have picked it up a few times over the years and still find it a powerfull read , i am lucky enough to own a 1st edition , i think Harris is a underestimated author bit old school but his WW2 novels are great reads i love Funny Place To Hold A War , and his factual book on the Light Brigade is recommended , i may be wrong but i understand Harris worked in a newspaper office in Shefield and the book was based on what he picked up in the 1950s and 1960s ?

[Mark Hone]

I have a very soft spot for this book as it formed part of the inspiration for the role playing lessons on the Sheffield City Battalion that I devised for my teaching practice at Ecclesfield School in 1989-1990 and helped to convince me that I might just be OK at this teaching malarkey. In fact at the end of the final lesson in the sequence I read out the last paragraph of the book, about the 'little cemeteries' on the ridge at Serre showing how far the battalion reached. It's not the best Great War novel by any means, with some soapy bits, as Broomers mentions, and it does help to perpetuate a few myths e.g. that Pals Battalions were disbanded after 1st July 1916 but I would heartily recommend it. Wasn't it also one of the inspirations for Martin Middlebrook's 'The First Day on the Somme'? That alone qualifies it for a certain immortality.

[Michelle Young]

I've got a real soft spot for it too; I wouldn't say there was too much soppy stuff in it and it towers above modern offerings ..................

Michelle

[David Filsell]

Inspired by this thread, I went looking for a copy after finding that I didn't have it on my shelves, loaned or borrowed I guess. I found a good value first edition with dust jacket from Clearwater books. Its well worth checking out the website. Mainly good iterary Great War material, reasonable prices. Not least a decently priced copy of the Journey's end novel signed by Sherriff and his co-author (co-author only on the novel).

I also looked up what I had on Harris and I have precious little. One brief note recorded that he did research the book, speaking to survivors, when working as a journo in Sheffiled, sadly I didn't give the source when I made the note.

[Bellewaerde House]

I very much enjoyed John Harris's novel, "Covenant With Death". It has remained in my library for 40 years along with another Great War novel written by Stuart Cloete, titled "How Young They Died" printed in 1969. Cloete was a Coldstream Guards officer, discharged as a Captain after being wounded several times during the war. His novel deals with a young officer (19 years old) with combat experience at Ypres and the Somme;. but it also deals very much more with the sustained stress of war as well as the social fabric of the time. An excellent book that many should enjoy.

[Michelle Young]

Always good to read a book where the Officers are not portrayed as homesexual poetry writers, ans the other ranks cannon fodder who are stupid which happens so much in modern literature. Must re-read Covenant when I get my books back. I think Dad has a copy of the Cloete book

Michelle.

[rose of picardy]

Michelle and Belleward House, you might want to look up Stuart Cloete's autobiography-"Victorian Son." I read it just a month ago and it gives the non-fiction version of his experiences in the War that he used for his novel. I recommend it as a a very interesting and often funny read.

[Iain]

I agree with Hesmond, a very under rated author, his books were always on the shelf in the local libraries in the eighties and nineties , now you would be hard pushed to find one of his and another favourite of mine Douglas Reeman.

I have a copy of covenant with death that I have had since the eighties Unfortunately its a paperback and not hard back.

It does fire the imagination about how the war was seen as something of an adventure and even a bit romantic!!!

[squirrel]

First WW1 novel from the British side that I read many, many years ago (had only read one WW1 novel prior to that - AQOTWF). certainly stirred my interest. A very good and well researched novel, particularly in the way he describes the characters and the formation of the batallion. Paperback copy fell apart and I managed to find a 1973 reprint hardback for £6.50 - no DJ though.

[David Filsell]

I have found out a little more about Harris from the jacket of Covenant.

John Harris started writing as a boy, after leaving school he worked in newspapers, first on a local, then on a daily provincial paper (Sheffield Star). Voluntered for the RA in WW2, after 'a spell flying' he served on RAF rescue launches in africa nd the Channel until the end of the war , taking part in D day landings and Arnhem - presumeably in the North Sea to rescue any survivors from downed gliders/tugs. Another iof his titles was The Sea Shall Not Have Them - which was filmed with Redrage and Bogarde (about which when noting their names on a film poster is claimed to have said something along the lines ' I don't see why not, everyone else has').

His Wiki entry lists a huge number of books, not least detective and other war novels and he seems to have beemn a thoroughly good egg"

[Kath]

According to this thread on Sheffield Forum:

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5166

"There is a novel called 'A covenant with death' by John Harris, which my father-in-law introduced me too, which we're both convinced is about the Sheffield Pals - there is a lot of background stuff in the novel that almost certainly points to Sheffield as the origin of the unit that is described in the pages."

And-

"Covenant with Death is about the Sheffield pals, thinly disguised (Redmires becomes Blackmires etc)."

And-

"John Harris....was from Rotherham, was a journalist and cartoonist on the Sheffield Telegraph in the 1950s"

Kath.

[Martin Bennitt]

"Two Years in the Making. Ten Minutes in the Destroying. That was Our History".

Just plucked it off my bookshelf to have another look. I remember thinking it was total fiction when I first read it as a young lad, then learning that it was very much based on fact. Very moving too, and I've always wondered if the romance resumed after the war. We are never told.

cheers Martin B

[Steven Broomfield]

As others have mentioned, Harris wrote quite a few "action novels". One I very much like is (I'm working from memory) Swordpoint about a river crossing in the Italian campaign of WW2. Not as deep as Covenant with Death, but a rattling good read. You'll find paperbacks of his books turning up for 50p or so in quite a few street markets. All are a good read, one way or another.

[Mark Hone]

I have to confess that I had a bit of a spat with Harris about 'Swordpoint'. I read it immediately after 'Covenant with Death' and started to get feelings of deja vu. I eventually realised that some sections of it appeared to bear a close resemblance to a factual personal account of the North-West Europe campaign which I had read some time previously. I'm afraid to say that in the bumptiousness of youth I wrote to Mr. Harris via his publishers pointing this out and quoting the offending passages. I received a rather stern reply, written, I seem to recall, in green ink, to the effect that 'where the heck do you think that I get my ideas from?'

[Guest exuser1]

One point i think Harris has and with an ever dwindling band of proper authors ,he served in WW2 got his knees brown and seems to know the subject that he writes about , and the dialogue does always seem in keeping with the period ? i find many of the mordern posse of current authors seem even when they are respected historians ,miss the point and small details that Harris weaves in to the tale? one instance i noted in a novel on WW2 ,but penned by a morden RAF historian had British army driving jeeps in 1940 ,and wearing berets ! not a mistake Harris would make ? or even need to check in a reference book ,as he would have readly known these details ?

[mhurst]

"Two Years in the Making. Ten Minutes in the Destroying. That was Our History".

Just plucked it off my bookshelf to have another look. I remember thinking it was total fiction when I first read it as a young lad, then learning that it was very much based on fact. Very moving too, and I've always wondered if the romance resumed after the war. We are never told.

cheers Martin B

I agree, Martin - the only unsatisfactory point for me in the novel was the unresolved romance. I know that some would count this as a "soppy stuff", but it was perfectly plausible and appropriate in its context and, from a dramatic point of view, should have been resolved - even with a few lines.