This novel hinges on the battle of Monte Cassino, Italy, in World War II, covering the international contingents and their contribution to that victory. The four month long battle at Monte Cassino in southern Italy was one of the bloodiest in World War II. In this highly original novel, Janeczek retells that 1944 battle from the point of view of the Maori, Gurkha, Polish, North African, small-town American and other Allied foot soldiers who fought and died under German fire near that 6th century Benedictine abbey. Twined through the battle is another story, a memory of the drowned and the...