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MWSA Review
One of Four by Travis Davis is a historical fiction novel that gives us a view of World War One through the eyes of an unknown American soldier. While in France on a post-high school graduation trip, Alex Grover, traveling with his retired U.S. Army father, discovers an anonymous U.S. World War One soldier’s diary hidden in an old Bible in a Paris book shop.
Intrigued by the soldier’s diary entries on the horrors, honor, and camaraderie of serving in combat, the father and son alter their vacation itinerary and follow some of the soldier’s wartime journey through several French battlefields of 1917 to 1918. As they travel, father and son grow closer after their separation imposed by the parents’ divorce, and the son is given glimpses of his father’s participation in combat.
One of the strengths of the book is its unique premise, giving voice to one of the over 4,400 U.S. soldiers, marines, and sailors still listed as missing in action from World War One. The story highlights how soldiers' bodies would simply “disappear” after being struck by high-explosive artillery rounds or lost when submerged into whole fields of muddy shell craters. The diary entries ring with authenticity and express the mixed emotions of a young man from the early 20th century leaving his home to fight on European battlefields. At the same time, the father and son characters have less depth, and their existence and interactions seem to serve more as a framework for the story laid out in the diary entries.
As someone familiar with the current state of U.S. World War One missing, whose identification is now only pursued by private organizations and individuals and not our government, I found that the book brought to life the forlorn agony of the soldier’s wife, living out her life never truly knowing what happened to her loved one.
One of Four has an interesting premise and a well-crafted character in the unknown soldier. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy realistic, somber stories of World War One and the plight of soldiers in combat in any war.
Review by Terry Lloyd (April 2025)
Author's Synopsis
From New York Harbor to the battlefields of France, relive World War One through the eyes of an unknown soldier, as told through his diary. See how the 100-year-old diary brings a father and his estranged son back together by retracing his experiences fighting in the battlefields of France in 1917 - 1918 to his final resting place—the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 210
Word Count: 67,551