An Innocent Soldier

There is a stunning moment at the beginning of Bohemian author Holub's absorbing novel about Napoleon's 1811 invasion of Russia when readers realize what orphaned farmhand Adam, the innocent soldier of the title, does not: though only 16, he's joining the French emperor's Grand Armée in place of the son of the man who took him in. Over the course of the next grueling year, gentle Adam, who narrates, confronts the atrocities of war (stealing uniforms from the dead, eating horseflesh to survive). He must contend with a vicious sergeant, who never misses an opportunity to humiliate him, and also wrestle with questions about the treachery of the farmer, whom Adam had seen as a father figure. The boy's luck turns when he becomes aide-de-camp to a young privileged lieutenant. The sweet bonding of these two teens as they slog to Moscow and back underscores the importance of friendship. They take turns saving each other from mortar fire, Cossack attacks, even deadly dysentery. (Of the 15,000 troops that left from their part of the German empire, 300 return alive.) The writing is elegant in its plain descriptions (after a good meal with the soldiers, "Even my thoughts about the farmer disappear as quickly as three drops of honey in the acorn coffee we get on Sundays") and unsparing in its recounting of the horrific details of this famous military campaign. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)