In November, 1915, a shy, cosseted and rather pompous bank clerk left Canada to fight as a lieutenant on the battlefields of Europe. Despite genteel poverty, his mother had raised him to be the heir to both military greatness and aristocratic splendour. She even followed him to Europe in an attempt to manipulate his destiny. But in the awful killing ground of the Ypres Salient, and subsequently at Vimy and Passchendaele, William Arthur Peel Durie came to understand something of the man he ...

When a rogue Russian spy warns her of a plot to hack into the West's military satellite systems, MI5's Liz Carlyle finds her past catching up with her...Geneva, 2012. A Russian intelligence officer approaches MI5 with vital information about the imminent cyber-sabotage of an Anglo-American Defence programme, but refuses to talk to anyone but Liz Carlyle.At a tracking station in Nevada, US Navy officers watch in horror as one of their unmanned drones plummet...

During the Second World War Eric Lomax was forced to work on the notorious Burma-Siam Railway and was tortured by the Japanese for making a crude radio.Left emotionally scarred and unable to form normal relationships, Lomax suffered for years until, with the help of his wife, Patti Lomax, and of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, he came terms with what happened. Fifty years after the terrible events, he was able to meet one of his tormentors.The...

This "brilliant and heartrending" memoir recounts one of the bloodiest battles of WWI—with a new introduction and a forward by the author's son (John Keegan).A joint operation between Britain and France, the 1916 Battle of the Somme was an attempt to gain territory and dent Germany's military strength. By the end of the action, the Allied Forces had made just twelve kilometers. For this slight gain, more than a million lives were lost.In this classic military...

Australia has a rich history of ghost sightings and spooky tales, from the time of European settlement until today - and they are all here in GREAT AUSTRALIAN GHOST STORIES.From gore-spattered convicts and elegant women out of our colonial past to the mysterious ghost lights of the outback and angry poltergeists that wreak havoc on modern homes, Australia seems to be teeming with the restless spirits of our ancestors. You'll meet a wide cross section of them in this far-reaching col...

This account of British life in the wake of World War I is "social history at its very best . . . insightful and utterly absorbing" ( Minneapolis Star-Tribune).As the euphoria of Armistice Day in 1918 quickly subsided, there was no denying the carnage that the Great War had left in its wake. Grief and shock overwhelmed the psyche of the British people—but from their despair, new life would slowly emerge.For veterans with faces demolished in the tre...

The fascinating and enjoyable account of the lives of women during World War One from bestselling author and award-winning former BBC Chief News Correspondent Kate Adie.'5 stars are nowhere near enough. A fabulous book in every respect!' - READER REVIEW ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'A lucid, compelling and highly readable examination of the Great War but from a totally different angle. Highly recommended.' - READER REVIEW ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'A m...

In what is one of the finest autobiographies to come out of the First World War, the distinguished poet Edmund Blunden records his experiences as an infantry subaltern in France and Flanders. Blunden took part in the disastrous battles of the Somme, Ypres and Passchendaele, describing the latter as 'murder, not only to the troops, but to their singing faiths and hopes'. In his compassionate yet unsentimental prose, he tells of the heroism and despair found among the officers. Blunden's poe...

Contents Introduction Gunther Pluschow: Escape from Donington Park M C Simmons: The Canadian Simmons Escapes Again Escape Number Three The Famous Holzminden Escape E H Jones and C W Hill: The Madmen’s Plan Frank Savicki: Doughboy on Tour   At the end of the 19th century, following the Crimean and Austro-Prussian wars, the Hague Conventions were initiate...

Tom Richards is the only Australian-born Test rugby player to have played for both Australia and the British Lions. When the Australian team won the Gold Medal for rugby at the 1908 Olympic Games, the London Times pronounced: 'If ever the Earth had to select a Rugby Football team to play against Mars, Tom Richards would be the first player chosen.'With an introduction by leading Australian rugby writer Greg Growden, Richards's diaries offer wonderful insights into...

A lieutenant writes of digging through bodies that have the consistency of Camembert cheese; a mother sends flower seeds to her son at the Front, hoping that one day someone may see them grow; a nurse tends a man back to health knowing he will be court-martialled and shot as soon as he is fit. Edited by the bestselling author of Birdsong and Dr Hope Wolf, this is an original and illuminating non-fiction anthology of writing on the First World War.Diaries, letters and memories, test...

WINNER OF THE BRITISH SPORT BOOK AWARDS - RUGBY BOOK OF THE YEARThis is the story of 15 men killed in the Great War. All played rugby for one London club; none lived to hear the final whistle. Rugby brought them together; rugby led the rush to war. They came from Britain and the Empire to fight in every theatre and service, among them a poet, playwright and perfumer. Some were decorated and died heroically; others fought and fell quietly. Together their sto...