Echoes of War

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. (July)