Author:Richard Holmes
The retreat of the British Expeditionary Force from Mons in the early months of the First World War is one of the great dramas of European history. Blending his recreation of the military campaign with contemporary testimony and an account of his own ride over the route, Richard Holmes takes the reader on a unique journey - to glimpse the summer the old world ended.
The author tells two stories in parallel: that of his own journey and a first-rate account of what happened eighty years before
—— Max Egremont , Evening StandardA book that amuses yet haunts, brisk at one moment, melancholy the next... an effortless blend of past and present
—— Michael Sheridan , Independent on SundaySucceeds admirably in both parts: the travelogue weaves in and out, giving welcome relief from the sweat and fear, the sleeplessness, the fearful wounds and the killing... Masterly
—— Daily TelegraphBased on fact and meticulously researched, it is a moving novel. Robert Hicks is a superb storyteller.
—— Choice'A sleeping giant'
—— USA TodayThis remarkable debut novel has an unflinching eye for detail and is at once a meditation on the futility of war and a paen to the power of he human spirit.
—— ChoiceNicholas Stargardt's compelling new book tells exactly what was happening to the children of Europe who had been living under the Nazi regime...Stargardt's is, indeed, a terrible story: it is an account of the endless tramp of the innocents across Europe, a saga of cruelty, starvation, separation, loss and abject misery with lives without number ending in death
—— Juliet Gardiner , Daily MailChildren are history's forgotten people; amidst the sound and fury of battle, as commanders decide the fate of empires, they are never seen. Yet as Nicholas Stargardt reveals in his heart-rending account of children's lives under the Nazis, to ignore them is to leave history half-written. This is an excellent book and it tells a terrible story... As Stargardt so eloquently reminds us, the tragedy is that children were part of the equation and suffered accordingly
—— Trevor Royle , Sunday Herald'Nicholas Stargardt evokes the individual voices of children under Nazi rule. In re-creating their wartime experiences, he has produced a challenging new historical interpretation of the Second World War
—— History Today