Book title to this book about a badly burned soldier

April 9, 2007 11:30 AM

I read a book several years ago in middle school about a girl that falls in love with a young soldier (ww2 soldier if I remember correctly) that was badly burned and disfigured in the war. I think one of the character's last name was Metcalf. I want to say the girl was volunteering in the hospital and that's how she met the soldier. He was sitting on a bench I think when she first met him. It was so long ago that I can remember very little of the book. Does anyone know the title to this book? Thank you.
posted by GlowWyrm to writing & language (10 comments total)

Um, this seems almost too obvious, but offhand that sounds quite a lot like A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, although it's about WWI and the name is not Metcalf, it's Henry. Google up a plot summary and compare if it rings a bell.
posted by clavicle at 11:47 AM on April 9, 2007

same thing sprung to mind the moment i read the question... the name is wrong though... and henry wasn't burned he just injured his leg...

still seems the most likely candidate though...
posted by MonkNoiz at 11:51 AM on April 9, 2007

I remember reading a similar book in middle school, but I think it was a WW1 soldier (mustard gas caused the burns maybe?), and I can't remember a title. Sorry this isn't more helpful, but I wanted to get the WW1 bit out there.
posted by chndrcks at 11:53 AM on April 9, 2007

I think this is the title you're looking for: After the Dancing Days by Margaret Rostkowski. chndrcks is right, it is set during WWI, not WWII.

"A fine story of growing up and of the many ways of healing, set at the end of WW I. Annie Metcalf, almost 14, goes to meet her father, a doctor bringing wounded soldiers on a troop train to a hospital near Kansas City. ....Annie then becomes involved in going to the hospital, eventually to visit with Andrew, whose face has been badly disfigured by bums from mustard gas. When Mother sees Andrew, she is so distressed that she forbids Annie to go there again. But Annie disobeys: she takes over reading to a blind patient, and her friendship with Andrew speeds his psychological recovery."

(Kirkus Reviews, 9/15/1986)
posted by Siobhan at 11:55 AM on April 9, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

This made me think of The English Patient, although there are no characters I recall with the last name Metcalf.
posted by buddha9090 at 11:55 AM on April 9, 2007

It's WW1, and it's After the Dancing Days, by Margaret Rostkowski.
posted by cerebus19 at 11:56 AM on April 9, 2007

Is it Charms for the Easy Life? I haven't read it in years and years, but I seem to remember something like that happening in it.
posted by amarynth at 11:56 AM on April 9, 2007

The English Patient?
posted by teleskiving at 11:58 AM on April 9, 2007

Perhaps The Wars by Timothy Findley?
posted by biscotti at 11:58 AM on April 9, 2007

That's it, After the Dancing Days. Thank you so much for your help. I've been trying to find the title for years.
posted by GlowWyrm at 12:04 PM on April 9, 2007