Goodbye for Now by M.J. Hollows

Goodbye for Now Reviews

• 
  Lucy Banks

  I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
  
  Poignant and unexpected - obviously a lot of research has gone into this.
  
  The first thing to note about this book is that it's obvious the author has done considerable research into the First World War, which gives it a real sense of authenticity. It's a bittersweet story that details family life in Liverpool during the war, but also examines the pointlessness of it all.
  
  George and Joe are brothers living in Liverpool, though they couldn't be more different. George is keen to go and fight when war breaks out, whereas Joe protests at the loss of life, and refuses to sign up.
  
  From then on, their lives go in very different directions. George, though technically underage, fights in the war and experiences atrocities. Joe continues to work at the newspaper, until things take a turn for the darker.
  
  One brother survives the war, the other doesn't. I won't spoil the end for you, but it wasn't one that I saw coming, which made it especially poignant.
  
  The stand-out thing about this book was definitely the attention to detail. It's clear that this book has been a labour of love for the author, and he manages to capture a real sense of what it must have been like. This is especially the case with the scenes in the trenches - the horror and panic of those moments is powerfully brought to life, even down to the smallest elements, such as the lice in the uniforms and the squabbling between the soldiers themselves.
  
  Likewise, Liverpool is lovingly depicted and you get a real sense of the community there, and the way of life for all the residents. I really enjoyed this aspect of it.
  
  I have to say, I personally enjoyed George's story more than Joe's. George I felt had more motivation to make the decisions that he did, whereas I found myself questioning Joe's motives a little more. I understood his desire not to take human life, but it didn't seem to be founded on much logic or personal life experience - what made him protest the war so passionately? Given how he sticks so firmly to his guns right through to the end of the book, I wanted to understand more about what drove him to adopt this stance.
  
  Also, I felt the females in the book were a bit 'shadowy', apart from Anne at the newspaper. The sisters didn't feel fully formed, and the mother felt a bit like the stereotyped little woman at home, whereas the father (with his fierce temper and strong opinions) felt very much more rounded. I'd have liked to hear more of their voice in this book, but I do accept it was focusing mainly on the two brothers.
  
  Overall though, a really good read, and an intriguing insight into what life must have been like at that time. If you like historical books, you'll definitely enjoy this.
• 
  Julia

  Goodbye For Now by M.J. Hollows is an absolutely heart breaking account of the First World War both at home and at the front. The reader 'lives' throughout the war. We see the futility - everybody loses on both sides. The total waste of life. Young men used as cannon fodder. Young men, even underage signed up believing "It'll be an adventure."
  War is not an adventure. War is hard. War changes people, at times they become robotic, believing the lies and propaganda they are told. "The German figures... weren't human, they were only his enemies." Really? Brain washed by the war machine. No doubt, the German soldiers believed the same thing about the allies.
  M.J. Hollows has perfectly captured the horrors of World War I. As a historian I recognised the accuracy of the portrayal of the trenches and no mans land - it was carnage and a blood bath. A living hell. We will never truly know the horrors because those who returned were so traumatised and affected by what they had seen that they kept silent for decades, sometimes, forever. And of course the dead have no voice.
  The reader witnesses the absolutely appalling treatment of the conscientious objectors. "No one should have to kill another or be killed for their country." Their argument is compelling but dismissed as cowardice. The people who inflicted the punishments and the women who handed out white feathers should be ashamed of their actions. They judged, pronounced a guilty verdict and behaved disgracefully towards their fellow man.
  Shell shock was not understood. The reader witnesses the treatment of so called deserters - brave young men who were ill and clearly just could not take it anymore.
  Absolutely heart breaking. Absolutely brilliant. Absolutely riveting. Very atmospheric showing the true horrors of war. Read it with tissues close by - you're going to need them.
  To all the countless men and women who have fought and who continue to fight for our freedom... thank you every single one of you for your selfless sacrifice.
  Thank you M.J. Hollows for highlighting this story.
  I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.
  
• 
  HattieB

  This book really is what the Historical fiction book community has been missing all these years.
• 
  Katie Ginger

  I can't tell you how much I enjoyed reading this compelling and well-crafted debut from Mike. The writing is beautiful with a great plot and an ending that will make you cry (I did!). A book about the First World War should make you think and make you empathise, and this certainly does.
  Written from the perspective of two brothers with opposing views, it was incredibly well crafted with well-rounded characters. Heart-wrenching and thought-provoking, this is definitely not to be missed by historical fiction fans.
  
• 
  Liam Loftus

  A story set during World War 1 that encompasses the horror of the conflict both in the fields of battle and on the home front. I felt drawn in to both sides of the story, feeling empathy for Joe as he fights a battle of personal principle as his brother fights a battle of nationalistic pride. A perfect accompaniment to watching 1917 and the graphic novel Charley's War.
• 
  Jeanie

  A wonderful book with such heartache and loss
  Set during the war so many lives lost and how family's coped I really enjoyed this story and would recommend.
  Delighted to get an early copy from netgalley in return for an honest review.
• 
  Amanda

  ‘Goodbye For Now’ is one of those rare books, where the cover of the book is enough to convince me to read the story inside. I then read the synopsis and I just knew that this book was for me. I absolutely loved reading ‘Goodbye For Now’ but more about that in a bit.
  It was hard not to take to the characters of George and Joe from the start. I really felt for the pair of them. On the one hand we have George, who is swept along by the general wave of excitement generated by the declaration of war. George joins up and is sent abroad, where he certainly has his eyes opened. George, like many recruits, seemed to have a romanticised view of what going to war meant and how it would pan out. But the reality is so much different and George’s romanticised view of war certainly changes. I did feel for George in a way because he was a bit naïve when he joined up. Joe certainly has such a different view of war and I do commend him for standing up for what he believed in. It can’t have been easy to live in the family home and be a pacifist. Especially when his father fought in the Boer War and he seemed to excel in the army. Joe’s father makes his dislike of Joe’s pacifism obvious. As war is declared and Joe goes about his daily basis, his belief in pacifism is only strengthened. It can’t have been easy to be a pacifist especially when women were presenting pacifists with the white feather. How will two brothers with such differing opinions as regards war get on? Well for the answer to that question you are just going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you.
  I mentioned at the top of my review that as soon as I read the synopsis I had to read this book. My reasons for saying that are the fact that I have a huge interest in the Great War and I have had for years. I have also researched my family tree and that has only strengthened my interest. Two of my great grandfathers went to war and came home but my great Uncle went off to fight and he never came home. The circumstances of his death were tragic. Reading books either set during the Great War or about the Great War help me to feel closer to them all somehow. I also have a distant relative, who went off to fight and he was diagnosed as suffering from shell shock. Shell shock was something else which wasn’t widely understood or accepted. A lot of men with shell shock were labelled as cowards and were shot at dawn. Anyway enough of my family tree so back to the review I do go.
  Given my interest in the Great War, I became addicted to this book from the moment I picked the book up and began to read. The author’s writing style is such that you can’t fail to be drawn into the story and before you realise what is happening you are hooked. That’s what happened to me anyway. The further I got into the story, the more I wanted to read and the quicker the pages turned. At one point, the pages were turning that quickly that it was almost as if they were turning themselves. I was gutted when I got to the end of the book because I was enjoying the author’s writing style, the story and the characters so much that I just wanted the book to continue. ‘Goodbye For Now’ certainly took me on an emotional rollercoaster ride. There were times where I felt so emotional that I developed a lump in my throat. The author uses such vivid and graphic descriptions that if I closed my eyes I could easily imagine that I had travelled back in time to the era in which the book is set.
  ‘Goodbye For Now’ is beautifully, sensitively and very well written. I can’t wait to read more from M. J. Fellows. I would definitely recommend this book to other readers but it will be of particular interest to those who enjoy reading historical fiction. ‘Goodbye For Now’ is definitely thought provoking and topical. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.
• 
  Ffion

  Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
  
  This WWI debut novel initially caught my interest because of its Liverpool setting. The city holds a special place in my heart – my Nana’s family grew up there, and one of her uncles was killed in the First World War. I knew, then, that this novel had the potential to leave me an emotional mess – and oh boy, did it deliver on that front!
  
  Goodbye for Now tells the heartbreaking story of the Abbott brothers throughout the First World War, demonstrating the hardships faced both at home in Liverpool and across the Channel in the fields of France. Joe, the eldest, firmly opposes the war and refuses to join the army – instead it is George, not yet old enough to fight, who signs up.
  
  I love reading stories about siblings, especially those with a difficult relationship – and I felt that M.J. Hollows captured the complexity of the brothers’ familial bond so well. With such vastly differing opinions about the war, on the surface they were not close – but running through each brother’s respective narrative was their concern and hope for the other’s safety and well-being, which I found so touching.
  
  Part of me would have liked to hear more about the Abbott sisters, and the effects of the war on their lives, but I appreciate that wasn’t the story M.J. Hollows set out to tell. The entire structure of the novel was set up to follow the paths of the two brothers, and it was executed very well.
  
  The first third of the book did feel a bit slow for me – but once the plot really got going, I found myself completely swept up in the story. Once George reached the trenches in France, I was spellbound – the description of life on the front line was so heartbreakingly realistic that I almost felt as if I was there. A significant amount of research has clearly gone into the writing of this novel, and it is these finer details which make it such a powerful story.
  
  Overall, this was an incredibly moving read, simultaneously enjoyable and harrowing. As we approach the centenary of the end of WWI, this is a timely debut novel from M.J. Hollows, and I really can’t wait to read more by this author.
  
  Read more of my reviews at
  Sepia Tinted Window.
• 
  Shreedevi Gurumurty

  As Europe is on the brink of war, two brothers fight very different battles, and both could lose everything…While George has always been the brother to rush towards the action, fast becoming a boy-soldier when war breaks out,Joe thinks differently.Refusing to fight, Joe stays behind as a conscientious objector battling against the propaganda.On the Western front,George soon discovers that war is not the great adventure he was led to believe.Surrounded by mud,blood and horror his mindset begins to shift as he questions everything he was once sure of.At home in Liverpool, Joe has his own war to win.Judged and imprisoned for his cowardice, he is determined to stand by his convictions, no matter the cost.A more general right to refuse military service was not introduced until WWI.Britain introduced conscription with the Military Service Act of January 1916, which came into full effect on 2 March 1916.The Act allowed for objectors to be absolutely exempted, to perform alternative civilian service, or to serve as a non-combatant in the army's Non-Combatant Corps,according to the extent to which they could convince a Military Service Tribunal of the quality of their objection.However, 6,000 were refused any exemption and forced into main army regiments; if they then refused to obey orders, they were court-martialled and sent to prison.
  Tribunals were notoriously harsh towards conscientious objectors,reflecting widespread public opinion that they were lazy, degenerate, ungrateful 'shirkers' seeking to benefit from the sacrifices of others.The No-Conscription Fellowship was a British pacifist organization which was founded in London by Fenner Brockway and Clifford Allen on 27 November 1914, after WWI had failed to reach an early conclusion.The Liverpool Rifles was a unit of the Territorial Army, part of the British Army, formed in Lancashire as a 'Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVC) in 1859, becoming a battalion of the King's Regiment (Liverpool) in 1881.It saw action on the Western Front during WWI.City of Edinburgh helped transport the Liverpool Rifles from Southampton to Le Havre on 24 February 1915.The early joiners of war were more reckless and romantic.
• 
  Elysium

  George and Joe are brothers who at the break of World War I make very different decisions. George can’t wait to go to war and has a bit romanticized view of the war. Joe, on the other hand, is a pacifist who refuses to raise a hand to kill others. Their father is a Boer War veteran who doesn’t take Joe’s beliefs kindly.
  
  Both brothers admit that they’re never been close and don’t have much in common, but they are concerned for each other’s well-being during the war which was great to see.
  
  It was interesting to read about Joe’s time at home because I haven’t read much about the men who refused to go to war or the people’s treatment of conscientious objectors. He was branded as a coward, but I admire him for standing up to something he believed in.
  
  It was a great debut book from the author and I really enjoyed reading it.
• 
  Natalie Daydream Reader

  Goodbye For Now has been on my TBR for a while. I've visited the battlefields of Northern France and Belgium and had a keen interest in the history of WWI ever since. Goodbye For Now spans the entire first world war, and tells the story of two brothers with different experiences. Joe, a conscientious objector and George who wants to fight for his country, don't always see eye-to-eye but are similar in their determination, bravery, and in that they both stand up for what they believe in.
  
  It was interesting to read about the experiences of those at home as well as those on the front line and I felt the book was very well researched in both aspects and interesting throughout. The story of the brothers is compelling and heartbreaking and told with real a honesty. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone interested in WWI fiction.
• 
  Reece Dinn

  A gritty, heart wrenching world war one novel that really had me hooked by the end.
• 
  ROCKY

  Really enjoyed reading this book!!
• 
  Fiona R

  Did not finish
• 
  Cath

  A well written page turner that I couldn’t put down!
• 
  Cheryl

  Absolutely wonderful book, can't recommend it enough!
• 
  Camille

  I didn't finish the book - stopped at 15%. Somehow I could never get into the story and didn't find myself wanting to read on. I'm not sure why, as the story does sound interesting and I can tell some important issues are arising. I think it might the writing style, which reminds me of my own, and I'm not a fan of my own writing style at the moment.
  So, there's nothing wrong with this book per say, it's just a personal thing. For this reason I won't be giving it any star rating as it wouldn't be fair.
  
  Disclaimer - I received a free digital copy courtesy of HQ digital and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.