The Soul of Susan Yellam

The book itself was very well written. The story of the main character was very good.

But the ending was not what I wanted to happen! And the tile of the last chapter is misleading enough that it kept my hopes up for no reason.

It is written in the style of many WW1 novels, with a blended sort of Christian spiritualism. The people longed to believe that the war was nothing more than a purging of the population's worst and would result in the utopian paradise they longed for. Evidently their philosophy was never fulfilled as they wished! And the children whose birth they welcomed so gladly, thinking of a rosy future for them, would instead be the next generation of soldiers fighting off the atrocities of the Germans.

This novel is very religious, in a sort of religion that one cannot put in a box and call by a certain name. Dogs recognize things by instinct, such as the passing of souls; one character uses fortune cards; an Episcopal priest with unorthodox views figures prominently; and there is a strong belief in a perfect future, with an extended sort of life after death in which the joys and ills of the world are relived.

It is historically significant, because the characters really might have felt and believed these things, given the times. It is realistically written.