The Cumberland Dialect is unlike modern English but Fraser provided a translation and glossary to help the reader. He served with a platoon of British Soldiers from Cumberland. I noted the author, George MacDonald Fraser (1925-2008), had written his memoir about World War II.
When I was looking for some sailing stories of the Napoleonic era, I came across the Flashman books. It pains me as a Flashman fan to say this, but this is the best GMF ever did. And then there are the desperately moving or very funny set pieces - the scenes where the section share out the kit of a comrade killed in action, the looting of the air drop, and best of all GMF's speculating about what the section would have done if they'd been given the option of dropping the bomb or not, which truly raises the hairs on the back of your neck.
I'm not sure if they are authentic,not being a Cumbrian but frequently they end up sounding like North country Daleks, which I suspect is not quite right! But get past this, and the book itself is a wonder - Frasers unsentimental vivid ability to put you in the events with him is extraordinary, as is his ability to evoke characters and make the reader empathise with his pride in his comrades. GMF was Anglo-Scottish so why have a very upper class English drawl for the reading? Especially as he has to do the Cumbrian voices, which are so much of the magic of the book. GMF is one of my all time favourites, but I am not sure about the reader.
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