Member Review

I knew this was going to be good - it’s from William Hussey after all- but I didn’t expect my heart to be in pieces throughout the whole book.

19 year old Stephen is returning to the WW1 front line as a lieutenant; he has been promoted for surviving an atrocious onslaught in his previous role. He has huge survivors guilt, compounded by the loss of his secret childhood love Michael, who has also died in battle.

Stephen knows that he has become emotionally hardened and hollowed out by what he’s seen so far. When he meets new recruit Danny on the train back to the front, he feels a spark of who he used to be and a flicker of recognition for someone else like him. It is illegal be gay, of course, and if anyone finds out that Stephen is gay he is likely to be severely punished.


The bond between the men quickly grows, neither of them able to say what they would like to, but relying on the other more than they can say. They are tasked with sketching out the German frontline so that it can be attacked in what is promised to be a glorious guaranteed victory. Reading this over 100 years later, it is heartbreaking and utterly frustrating to know what’s ahead for the men.

Sublime writing that had me in tears again and again