Of all the million British dead of the First World War, only one – the Unknown Soldier – was ever returned to his native land. An anonymous symbol of all those lost without trace in the carnage of the battlefields, he was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey amid an outpouring of grief that brought the whole nation to a standstill.
Drawing on largely unpublished letters and diaries, Neil Hanson has resurrected the lives and experiences of three unknown soldiers – a Briton, a German and an American. Every word is based on the testimony of those who fought, those who died and those who mourned at home; each life described in unforgettable detail.
Few books have ever shown the true and horrific reality of warfare, or told such a moving story of human life and loss. These rare insights into three soldiers’ lives capture the Great War in all its profound tragedy.