Major Glendinnig
A cruel and sadistic man responsible for emotionally torturing Alexander and Jerry, sharing in Alicia’s twisted belief that class and rank should be worshipped and that no fraternity be forged between them.
His sadism is shown in full colour when he makes Alexander lead the firing squad that will execute Jerry for ‘desertion’, forcing Alexander to give up his own life when he decides to kill Jerry before the execution, sparing him those dreaded moments of worry and instead leaving his life with memories of his happier childhood.
Quotes
Alec and Jerry shouldn’t have been friends: Alec’s life was one of privilege, while Jerry’s was one of toil. But this hardly mattered to two young men whose shared love of horses brought them together and whose whole lives lay ahead of them.
When war breaks out in 1914, both Jerry and Alec sign up – yet for quite different reasons. On the fields of Flanders they find themselves standing together, but once again divided: as officer and enlisted man.
And it is there, surrounded by mud and chaos and death, that one of them makes a fateful decision whose consequences will test their friendship and loyalty to breaking point.