The word "Tomorrow" actually refers to the name of
the dog in this story, who throughout the book is searching for his master
"Vallentyne" a physician by occupation. As the story covers many many years and many great events it must
be accepted that the dog lives a very long time. The purpose of this novel and
where it really succeeds is to describe events in Europe over a span of approx
150 years. It's a bold and bawdy journey and gives full reign for the author to
explore the great happenings in a continent under constant change with many
battles being fought. From the Freezing
of the river Thames in the 19th century to famous battles at that time
(Waterloo) being present at the dramatic execution of Charles 2nd, and
finishing at the dawn of the Industrial age with the first sighting of steam
trains. And as we absorb the colourful and constant change of time and location
we meet the players who will forever be associated with certain events namely;
Napoleon, Franz Schubert, Duke of Wellington, James 1st and his successor
Charles 2nd.
What drew me to the story was reliving events through a dog's
point of view. As we move backwards and forwards in time from the palace of
James 1st to the artful ambience of Vienna and Venice and the blood soaked
plains of Waterloo the story telling is furious and very enjoyable with a
constantly flowing descriptive prose...."The king lay down, positioned his
neck on the block, trying to get comfortable. The executioner apologized as he
tucked a few more stray hairs into the cap, then raised the axe and struck.
Blood pumped from the boned neck and a groan went up"....."the
trickery of it, the pointlessness, humans and animals born simply to suffer,
for the pain to invariably worsen with age, for anguish to thicken and veins
clog, until they were skidding down to death"......."Perhaps because
decay is the most virulent form of life, or perhaps because nothing speaks more
of the phenomenon of being, than the absence of it".........
The only downside of the back and forth time capture narrative
is the confusion that can sometimes arise when trying to pinpoint a particular
city and time. The is a very slight criticism in a story that I enjoyed told in
a very colourful and bold manner. Many thanks to the good people of netgalley
and publisher Penguin UK-Michael Joseph for a gratis copy in exchange for an
honest review and that is what I have written.
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