Echoes of War

89, [1] pp. The reality of war is the chill current that runs through the five stories in Westall's latest collection. In "After the Funeral , " the ghost of a fighter pilot returns to haunt his son in the most tangible, nerve-racking way imaginable. "Adolf" chronicles a boy's run-in with postwar complacency and the rewriting of history. A lighthearted episode of beach-combing becomes infused with notions of mortality in the meditative "Gifts from the Sea." In "The Making of Me," a man recalls a tentative friendship with his terrifying, shell-shocked grandfather. "Zakky" tells of a bloodthirsty war orphan and his uneasy relationship wth the county's Home Guard. The spare, direct writing makes these stories easy to read; their complexity invites rereading. This book is a timely reminder that the ramifications of war can be far-reaching. Ages 12-up. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.