The General

A symphony orchestra, on its way to the battlefront to entertain the army, is captured by the enemy. The General in charge of the enemy armies on that part of the front is faced with the problem of whether to shoot the members of the orchestra in accordance with his instructions to kill all prisoners. The General comes to see the orchestra as a great artistic force in a world relapsing into barbarism, and his authoritarian mind labours under this desperate dilemma. On one level the book is a war story that grips from start to finish; on another it is a philosophical and moral thriller in which two world forces collide. One of them must be defeated.