| Laugh! It's the British Raj − (Book review) | | | | Wee Charlie, innocently battling Life's monsters, has |
| Wee Charlie's World,by Bryce McBryce | | | | his own world where adults intrude in ways he can't |
| (Danpress adult fiction, 196pp, isbn 0959063048) | | | | understand. On the troopship he ignites a "brat |
| Review by Cathy Macleod | | | | overboard" crisis, in the colony he pollutes the |
| Long ago, when Britain ruled the world, its military | | | | convent's holy water, in the fort he's haunted by |
| families regularly confounded the War Office. And | | | | Wellington's ghost, as a Boy Scout, sworn to be |
| thereby lies a hilarious scenario, from which author | | | | helpful at all times, he helps an enemy spy. And so |
| Bryce McBryce has created the funniest fiction I've | | | | on. Such mirthful situations abound. |
| read since . . . well, since I can remember. | | | | Charlie's quest to understand the world provides |
| In one far fortress defending the Indian Ocean, the | | | | chuckles, nostalgia and a bit of philosophy. As this kid |
| Commanding Officer declares a brat named Charlie to | | | | puts it: "The hardest thing to learn is people." |
| be a worse distraction than militant Japan. It's the | | | | I particularly liked this book because there is purpose |
| eve of WW2, the British Raj at its glorious peak. | | | | to the humour. When one isolates the human factors, |
| The boy's father is a lowly sergeant, his mum a long | | | | as McBryce does, the world since then hasn't really |
| suffering army wife, and their blimpish Colonel ever | | | | changed at all. This is a five-star delight. |
| seeks promotion to higher rank. | | | | |