Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • And We Go On

  • A Memoir of the Great War
  • By: Will R. Bird
  • Narrated by: Nick Allan
  • Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (3 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

And We Go On

By: Will R. Bird
Narrated by: Nick Allan
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.99

Buy Now for £13.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

In the autumn of 1915 Will Bird was working on a farm in Saskatchewan when the ghost of his brother Stephen, killed by German mines in France, appeared before him in uniform. Rattled, Bird rushed home to Nova Scotia and enlisted in the army to take his dead brother's place. And We Go On is a remarkable and harrowing memoir of his two years in the trenches of the Western Front, from October 1916 until the Armistice.

When it first appeared in 1930, Bird's memoir was hailed by many veterans as the most authentic account of the war experience, uncompromising in its portrayal of the horror and savagery, while also honoring the bravery, camaraderie, and unexpected spirituality that flourished among the enlisted men. Written in part as a reaction to anti-war novels such as All Quiet on the Western Front, which Bird criticized for portraying the soldier as "a coarse-minded, profane creature, seeking only the solace of loose women or the courage of strong liquor", And We Go On is a nuanced response to the trauma of war, suffused with an interest in the spiritual and the paranormal not found in other war literature. Long out of print, it is a true lost classic that arguably influenced numerous works in the Canadian literary canon, including novels by Robertson Davies and Timothy Findley.

In an introduction and afterword, David Williams illuminates Bird's work by placing it within the genre of Great War literature and by discussing the book's publication history and reception.

©2014 McGill-Queen’s University Press (P)2021 McGill-Queen’s University Press
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Fire and Movement cover art
Blood, Dust and Snow cover art
The Recollections of Rifleman Bowlby cover art
Final Blackout cover art
Against All Odds cover art
Over the Top cover art
Mud and Khaki cover art
Patrol cover art
Arthur: The Great War Memoirs of William Arthur Human cover art
Brave Men cover art
No Road to Khartoum cover art
Band of Strangers cover art
Malcolm MacPhail's Great War cover art
The Long Road Home cover art
Blood and Soil cover art
Born Under a Lucky Star cover art

Critic reviews

“A lost classic...among the most powerful Canadian reactions to the Great War.” (Ian McKay and Robin Bates, In the Province of History: The Making of the Public Past in Twentieth-Century Nova Scotia)

And We Go On, originally published in 1930 and reissued to mark the 100th anniversary of the Great War, proves that Bird is a neglected master. As University of Manitoba English professor and unabashed fan David Williams argues in his introduction to the new edition, Bird ‘should be required reading for all students of Canadian history and literature.’” (The Chronicle Herald)

What listeners say about And We Go On

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Highly recommended ☘️

Very realistic & truthful although I can't understand how author could have remained so level-headed, positive and philanthropic throughout his entire experience and recollection of the war...I am still grateful for his memrois in this great audiobook.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping historical personal account

Superb recollection of a truly unbelievably waste of life in a war whose society today would not tolerate fought by ordinary men . The incidents of an afterlife are so well described by such a normal man that even the most sceptical will struggle to not be convinced .
Finest WW1 personal account from Canada .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!