From the City, From the Plough cover art

From the City, From the Plough

War Trilogy, Book 1

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From the City, From the Plough

By: Alexander Baron
Narrated by: Matt Addis
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About this listen

Spring 1944, the south coast of England. The Fifth Battalion, Wessex Regiment, wait patiently and nervously for the order to embark. There is boredom and fear, comedy and pathos as the men all drawn from different walks of life await the order to move.

With an economy of language that belies its emotional impact, From the City, from the Plough is a vivid and moving account of the fate of these men as they embark for the beaches of Normandy and advance into France, where the battalion suffers devastating casualties.

Based on Alexander Baron's own wartime experience, From the City, from the Plough was originally published to wide acclaim and reportedly sold over one million copies. This new edition of the 1948 classic includes a contextual introduction from IWM which sheds new light on the dramatic true events that so inspired its author.

©2019 Alexander Baron, The Imperial War Museums (P)2019 Headline Publishing Group Ltd 20th Century Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Military Suspense Thriller & Suspense War & Military Classics War

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As someone who doesn't usually read war stories, I was riveted by and thoroughly enjoyed this book. The introduction does a fantastic job of bringing home to you how special it is, a second world war story that is utterly of it's time, with the real war experience of the author clear in everything the men go through and their responses to it. Addis's narration is perfect, giving individual voices and character to everyone we meet, and managing to convey the huge range of emotions Baron has forced his battalion to endure. We follow the 5th Battalion through training in England, to Dday, and into France, and though the battalion is fictional, the scenarios they face are all very very real.
Having finished it, I'm feeling a little melancholy- as a child of the 90s it's not often I'm properly reminded of the realities of WW2.
A sobering and uplifting tale, would highly recommend.

A sobering and uplifting tale

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A book that makes you think and reflect. Especially with the scourge of war in Europe again.

The utter waste of War

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Matt Addis is a name unknown to me, but this performance has shown what a perfect piece of casting resulted from his selection. His narrative is sensitively intoned, his command of different voices and accents is impressive.
Also just perfect is the pacing of his delivery. Seldom do I say this, but change one aspect of this book's reading and there would be diminishment of this or that sort. Baron must have lived through these horrible experiences or at least something very similar in his combat times in WW2 to have drawn such utterly believable character-sketches and cameo designs.
In my take on books here in Audible after several hundred listens, this one's a Perfect Storm. Style, characters, and performance. Eleven out of ten, if you like.

Incapable of being improved?

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brilliantly read and a great story that gives an insight into everyday life in the British army in a way that's only usual narrated from the perspective of the US.

a truly fantastic reading

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I’ve listened to or read a lot of war literature and this is without doubt among the very best if not the best. Beautifully written and very moving. It is superbly read, and the narrator captures the regional accents magnificently. It’s a bit like a British version of James Jones’s Thin Red Line. I cannot recommend it enough.

Brilliant

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A novel which simply reflects war for it is. No pseudo intellectual word play masking the horror. Just a straight forward narrative of a individuals caught up in conflict. The crushing burden of command and responsibility and simple human desire to survive. Should be stood up as an example of classic British literature.

A long forgotten classic

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Captivating, gruesome, humoured. An incredible telling of the variation of man as he goes through training and war.

A brilliant classic

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Well written, uncomplicated, linear.
The atmosphere of the allies at war really good. The camaraderie, and yet the full horrors, of war all there.
A great read.
And narration top drawer.
I'm sure I'll listen to this again sometime.

A great book.

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From the City, from the Plough tells the story of a British infantry battalion in the weeks leading up to and immediately following D-Day. Told mainly from the perspective of the ordinary soldier it brilliantly evokes the hopes and fears of the men.

An uncompromising and tragic story of battle

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This book is superb and left me a little emotional towards the end.
The author does an incredibly good job of putting you in the rank and file of the British infantry as they trained and prepared for D-Day along with how the landing went and the days after. It did a clever job of defining a few characters from different ranks with their own distinct personalities, quirks, perspectives and individual stories that you follow from start to finish . What this book did exceedingly well is subtlety drawing you into a deep intimacy with these men, to a degree that you see them as individual people and not just faceless soldiers, to the point where during the fighting you feel and fear for each loss like an individual tragedy and not just one of many casualties because you have been with them from the start. Superb writing all delivered by an incredible narration.

Reads like a British Band of Brothers

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