Author:E P F Lynch,Will Davies
'It's the end of the 1916 winter and the conditions are almost unbelievable. We live in a world of Somme mud. We sleep in it, work in it, fight in it, wade in it and many of us die in it. We see it, feel it, eat it and curse it, but we can't escape it, not even by dying...'
Edward Lynch enlisted when he was just 18 - one of thousands of fresh-faced men who were proudly waved off by the crowds as they embarked for France. It was 1916 and the majority had no idea of the reality of the Somme trenches, of the traumatised soldiers they would encounter there, of the innumerable, awful contradictions of war. Private Lynch was one of those who survived, and on his return home, wrote Somme Mud in pencil in over 20 school exercise books, perhaps in the hope of coming to terms with all that he had witnessed there?
Written from the perspective of an ordinary 'Tommy' and told with dignity, candour and surprising wit, Somme Mud is a testament to the human spirit: for out of the mud that threatened to suck out a man's soul rises a compelling story of humanity and friendship.
For all who are marking the centenary of the Great War, it is a rare and precious find.
As haunting and graphic a description of trench warfare as any I have read... this is a warrior's tale... a great read and a moving eye-witness account of a living hell from which few emerged unscathed
—— Daily ExpressCompares to All Quiet on the Western Front... Both are front-line memoirs of men steadily becoming more professional and more disillusioned... Both are magnificently written
—— Prof William GammageHere is the stink and stench of war... horrifying, scarifying and very humbling as well
—— Herald SunBrilliantly evokes the terror, horror, elation, friendship, gore and depression that made a combat infantryman's life so dangerous, so traumatic and, if he survived, so memorable
—— Courier MailHis observations on life in the line and of his emotions in a battle strike a chord. Difficult to put down - it has the feel of being written by a soldier for soldiers
—— Soldier MagazineThis vivid first-hand account of the experiences of an ordinary infantryman, Somme Mud reaches us as the voice of an ordinary, but highly literate, private soldier who simply endured the horrors that surrounded him and got on with his job
—— Birmingham PostIn its honesty and earthiness it has quite justifiably been compared with All Quiet on the Western Front... A frest look at life in a front-line trench
—— Good Book GuideAn important, outstanding book
—— Die ZeitKeegan tells the story of war between the industrial North and the agricultural South, and that's very good. But what I loved most, and what Keegan is always superb at, is analysis
—— William Leith , The ScotsmanYou would be hard pressed to find a better written one-volume history of this epic struggle
—— Simon Shaw , GuardianIlluminating
—— Colin Waters , Sunday HeraldA captivating narrative, huge in scope
—— Daily TelegraphCarter deftly interpolates history with psychobiography to provide a damning indictment of monarchy in all its forms
—— Will Self , New Statesmen Books of the YearA depiction of bloated power and outsize personalities in which Carter picks apart the strutting absurdity of the last emperors on the eve of catastrophe
—— Financial Times Books of the YearTakes what should have been a daunting subject and through sheer wit and narrative élan turns it into engaging drama. Carter has a notable gift for characterisation
—— Jonathan Coe , Guardian Books of the YearFacts 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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