The Junior Officers' Reading Club

Apr 20, 2025 12:42 AM

Author:Patrick Hennessey

Patrick Hennessey's The Junior Officers' Reading Club is a lucid, witty account of all the horror, boredom and exhilaration of war.

Patrick Hennessey is pretty much like any other member of Generation X: he spent the first half of the noughties reading books at university, going out, listening to house music and watching war films. He also, as an officer in the Grenadier guards, fought in some of the most violent combat the British army has seen in decades.

Telling the story of how a modern soldier is made, from the testosterone-heavy breeding ground of Sandhurst to the nightmare of Iraq and Afghanistan, The Junior Officers' Reading Club is already being hailed as a modern classic.

'Soldiers who can write are as rare as writers who can strip down a machinegun in 40 seconds' Christopher Hart, Sunday Times

'An extraordinary memoir ... Hennessey has a reporter's eye for detail and a soldier's nose for bullshit' John Shirley, Guardian

'High tempo, full-on, honest and revealing' Patrick Bishop, Evening Standard

'The most accomplished work of military witness to emerge from British war-fighting since 1945' Boyd Tonkin, Independent

'Remarkable ... conveys vividly what it's like to experience combat' Jeremy Paxman, Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year

Patrick Hennessey (b. 1982) joined the Army in January 2004, undertaking officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where he was awarded the Queen's Medal and commissioned into The Grenadier Guards. He served as a Platoon Commander and later Company Operations Officer from the end of 2004 to early 2009 in the Balkans, Africa, South East Asia and the Falkland Islands and on operational tours to Iraq in 2006 and Afghanistan in 2007, where he became the youngest Captain in the Army and was commended for gallantry.

Reviews

Soldiers who can write are as rare as writers who can strip down a machinegun in 40 seconds, but Patrick Hennessey is one of the few

—— Sunday Times

High-tempo, full-on . . . honest and revealing . . . a memoir brimming with vinegar and testosterone

—— Evening Standard

The military memoir of the moment

—— Times

A very fine book, a powerful dispatch from the front line ... what impresses is the sheer candour and immediacy

—— Spectator

An extraordinary memoir . . . Hennessey has a reporter's eye for detail and a soldier's nose for bullshit

—— Guardian

Outstanding . . . A classic of its kind

—— William Boyd, Sunday Herald, Books of the Year

Harrowing and frequently funny . . . sparkles with wit, wisdom and boyish glee . . . His generation owns the war

—— Times

Must rank as the most accomplished work of military witness to emerge from British war-fighting since 1945

—— Independent

Remarkable . . . conveys vividly what it's like to experience combat

—— Jeremy Paxman, Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year

An engaging mix of war reporting, stream of consciousness and reflections on the nature of conflict in the twenty-first century

—— Caroline Moorehead, Spectator, Books of the Year

All politicians need to read honest accounts of war - at no time more than now - and Patrick Hennessey's The Junior Officers' Reading Club is one of the very best

—— David Cameron, Observer, Books of the Year

A vivid account of a rollercoaster tour of duty . . . testosterone-charged, expletive-splattered

—— Phil Jacobson, Daily Mail

A compelling read . . . Hennessey's book ought to be read by all officers that have yet to experience combat . . . He has written an important portrait of contemporary warfare and the nature of battle - a portrait that can claim a line of descent from Sassoon's Memoirs of an Infantry Officer

—— Will Pike, British Army Review

An honest acknowledgment of the darkness within us, of the unwelcome emotions that combat can bring about ... Smart and funny ... The Junior Officers' Reading Club is a humdinger

—— Jonathan Yardley , Washington Post

There have been many books about the Battle of Britain but few as exhaustive - and readable - as this scholarly account

—— Choice Magazine

Facts and figures say a great deal, but the most compelling accounts come from those who featured in the battle. Like any good author, Holland allows the participants to tell the story in their own words

—— The Good Book Guide

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