The Image of a Drawn Sword

Regardless of formal category, Jocelyn Brooke's works tended to autobiography. At a superficial level this novel does so less obviously. It describes the experiences of Reynard Langrish. He befriends a young army officer who talks of a 'state of emergency'. Reynard agrees to undertake military training with him, but as he becomes more deeply involved he is drawn into a struggle with mysterious and irrational forces which are to threaten his sanity. What emerges is a Kafkaesque (though the author claimed not to have read him) vision where fantasy and reality are disturbingly blurred. 'The skill and intensity of the writing make peculiarly haunting this cry of complaint on behalf of bewildered Man' - "Daily Telegraph".