Changes

|title=Worthless Men

|author=Andrew Cowan

|publisher=Sceptre

|date=February 2013

|summary=Packed with period detail, the book weaves together a number of narratives from life in the middle of the Great War in an English market town. Memorable characters and a pleasingly unusual take on war fiction that has a strong ring of authenticity.

}}

If you read a lot of fiction about World War One, it's tempting to imagine pre-war England as an idyl of peace and innocence. Andrew Cowan's ''Worthless Men'' depicts a much more gritty and earthy England. Set in 1916 in an industrial and market town, it weaves together several narratives that combine to depict a hard life even before the outbreak of war. In fact, its easier to imagine the lure of adventure that the war initially offered as a change from the harsh realities of life at home, although by the time Cowan's novel begins, the grim reality of what is involved has dampened much of this enthusiasm.