Going West

In Short

Set against the backdrop of the First World War, this poignant narrative follows Lester, an American civilian-turned-soldier who leaves behind an estranged family and a devoted fiancée to fight in France. After dying in hand-to-hand trench combat with a Bavarian soldier, Lester transitions into a vibrant spiritual existence. Unbound by physical limits, he discovers a universal intelligence and strives to comfort his grieving family. The story endures through its tender exploration of grief, spiritual continuity, and the ultimate reconciliation of human estrangement through enduring love.

The Story

Lester is a sturdy, independent American broker with a legacy of ancestral military service. Though he prefers civilian life, the call of duty sends him to the borders of Texas, Mexico, and eventually the blood-soaked trenches of France. Before deploying, he falls deeply in love with Molly Dove, a quiet café waitress whose unshakeable spiritual faith and unconventional views on immortality set her apart. His family—consisting of a scholarly father, a steely mother, a professorial sister named Cora, and a lively sister named Ethelind—bitterly oppose the match, refusing to meet Molly or acknowledge their engagement. Despite familial coldness, Lester marries Molly during a brief furlough before shipping out to the front lines.

In the harrowing trenches of Dead Cow Lane, Lester is consumed by the crushing monotony of war and haunted by visions of his family. When the command to go over the top arrives, he charges into battle alongside his comrades. Amid the chaotic carnage, he engages in a desperate, fatal bayonet duel with a burly, blond Bavarian soldier. Both men perish in the violent clash, their bodies tumbling together as Lester's skull is fractured.

Upon dying, Lester finds himself resting in a state of profound well-being and security, devoid of physical pain. He encounters the spirit of the very Bavarian he killed, a man from Oberammergau whose family prayed for him. Together, they converse about the nature of a universal intelligence, discovering that physical death is merely a transition into a deeper, more awakened consciousness. Lester realizes that his supreme sacrifice—giving up his life, family, and happiness without complaint for a greater cause—has advanced his soul, though he must learn to cooperate with the infinite mind that unites all existence.

Driven by care for his family and especially for Molly, who is expecting his child in a tiny apartment, Lester attempts to visit his earthly home. He discovers that mortal life resembles a play or a realm of illusion; his father, mother, and Cora cannot see or hear him as they read books and fret over hats. Only Molly, sitting in her room with open scriptures, senses his presence and receives his silent reassurance that he is happy and safe.

Moved by her profound inner conviction, Molly takes it upon herself to visit the Lester household. Though Cora and the mother initially meet her with cold hostility and skepticism, Ethelind defends her. Just as a telegram arrives confirming Lester's death in action, the mother breaks down in sudden, tragic realization. Recognizing that Lester must be alive to have reached Molly, the mother embraces the young widow, drawing her into the family fold. In a final luminous vision, Lester witnesses this emotional reunion, content in the certainty of a vast spiritual and earthly readjustment.

How It Unfolds

• The voyage begins

Lester leaves behind his budding career as a broker and his forbidden engagement to Molly Dove to answer the traditional call of national duty. After a secret wedding during a military furlough, he sails for France, stepping away from civilian security into the vast, impersonal machinery of war.

• Dead Cow Lane

Confined to a brutal front-line trench system, Lester battles crushing psychological monotony while tormented by vivid mental images of his disapproving family and waiting wife. The long hours of waiting end abruptly when the order to go over the top arrives, hurling him directly into the chaos of battle.

• The fatal encounter

Amid the smoke, barbed wire, and bursting fire, Lester locks into a fierce, instinctive bayonet duel with a blond Bavarian soldier. Both men strike fatal blows in a struggle born of centuries of race-rancor, their lives ending in a tangled embrace as Lester's skull is shattered.

• Awakening in the universal

Waking without pain in a luminous realm beyond physical locality, Lester meets the spirit of the Bavarian he killed. Through their profound conversations, he learns that death is merely a gateway into a vibrant universal intelligence governed by thought and consciousness rather than physical limits.

• The invisible return

Lester visits his earthly home, watching invisibly and helplessly as his father reads and his mother tries on hats in ignorant bliss. Only Molly, reading scriptural passages of resurrection in her apartment, feels his comforting presence and understands deeply that he is safe and happy.

• The reconciliation

Molly walks directly to the Lester estate to share her unshakable spiritual conviction with his grieving family. Arriving moments before the official casualty telegram shatters their denial, she is warmly embraced by the mother, uniting the household in a harmonious and healing final readjustment.

The People

Lester is a robust, well-meaning American broker and civilian at heart whose inherited sense of duty propels him into the horrors of war. Despite his initial roughness and worldly habits, his capacity for selfless sacrifice elevates his soul, leading him from ignorance to profound spiritual awakening. Molly Dove, a gentle café waitress and orphan raised by a religious aunt, possesses an unshakeable faith in eternity and a quiet facility for renouncing her own will. Shunned by Lester's family, she remains utterly steadfast, ultimately serving as the spiritual anchor who bridges the gap between the living and the dead.

Lester's father is a gentle, scholarly bookseller whose patriotic service left him physically impaired, maintaining a stoic, bookish exterior that masks deep anxiety. His mother is a small, square-headed woman characterized by a bright smile and a sharp tongue, fiercely protective of family status until grief shatters her resistance. Cora, the eldest sister and a college graduate aspiring to a professorship, is cold, intellectual, and heavily reliant on rigid authority, initially dismissing Molly as hysterical. Ethelind, the younger sister, is a lively, modern girl modeled on the permanent-seventeen ideal who defies familial snobbery out of genuine affection for her brother, ultimately championing Molly and helping to heal the bitter family divide.

In Its Own Voice

Lester reflects on the heavy emotional burden of warfare and his sudden loss of individuality as he confronts the grim reality of the trenches.

"One overruling need had bound the manhood of the race into a solidarity so tense that the individual was swallowed up in it."

Molly shares her serene, unconventional perspective on mortality and the eternal nature of human connection with an incredulous Lester before he departs.

"Marriage, after all, is only for time, whereas you and I are bound by all sorts of ties which really belong to eternity."

The Bavarian spirit explains to Lester the true spiritual nature of their post-mortem existence and how universal consciousness unites them all.

"When we've learned that everything exists in a great mind, that mind itself becomes the medium of intercourse."

What It's Really About

The book explores the spiritual meaning of sacrifice, arguing that physical death is merely an illusion and a transition into a higher state of universal consciousness. Basil King examines the destructive absurdity of national and historical hatreds, symbolized by the fatal clash between ordinary men who harbor no personal animosity. Beneath the plot lies a deep theological inquiry into how human suffering and selfless love act as instruments of spiritual evolution. By surrendering one's individual will for a greater cause, the soul aligns with an infinite, divine intelligence. Ultimately, the narrative questions the rigid boundaries between the material and the spiritual, suggesting that love and thought form an eternal medium capable of transcending death and healing earthly divisions.

Why Read It Today

Readers drawn to early-twentieth-century spiritualism, philosophical war fiction, and tales of transcendent love will find much to appreciate here. Reading Going West feels like stepping into a solemn, contemplative dreamscape where the raw trauma of World War I collides with serene metaphysical hope. What stays with you long after finishing is the striking depiction of post-mortem consciousness and the quiet dignity of Molly Dove.

Modern readers must approach the book with patience, as it reflects the formal prose styles, didactic spiritual dialogues, and period social attitudes of 1919. The emotional cadence is unhurried, prioritizing philosophical discourse over fast-paced plotting, and the rigid class snobbery displayed by Lester's family requires historical context to navigate comfortably. Yet, beneath these dated conventions lies a deeply comforting meditation on grief, survival, and human connection that transcends its era. For anyone grappling with loss or curious about how post-WWI literature attempted to make sense of unimaginable carnage through spiritual frameworks, King's work offers a unique and resonant literary experience.