THE UNKNOWN WARRIOR

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLER Chosen by WATERSTONES as one of their BEST HISTORY BOOKS for 2024 Compelling Nichol has a terrific eye for detail an ability to blend tear jerking letters quotation and personal anecdotes into a rich thought provoking narrative Daily Telegraph Over one million British Empire soldiers were killed during the First World War More than a century later over half a million still have no known grave The scale of the fighting the catastrophic destruction the relentless military engagement and glutinous mud meant that many of the dead were never identified of often never recovered Names were left without bodies and bodies or fragments of bodies without names To help staunch the tide of national grief in the aftermath of the conflict an idea was born for a single Unknown Warrior representing all the missing to be brought from the battlefields and buried in Westminster Abbey alongside the nation s kings and queens Using diaries archives and interviews with the descendants of that generation and modern day experts Sunday Times bestselling author and former RAF Tornado navigator John Nichol draws on his own experience of combat and loss to shine light on this 100 year old story And in speaking to those who have lost lov