January 1917, 2nd Lt Wilfred Owen enters the trenches for the first time - a selfish, priggish, naive 24 year old in love with the idea of poetry.
He churns out the same vapid, adolescent verses as thousands of others.
Yet by the time Owen is killed in action in November 1918, he has won the MC and written the finest body of war poetry in the English language.
This is the enigma of Wilfred Owen.
An enigma that almost fifty years later, a labourer working in a doomed mining village needs to solve.
If he succeeds, Gwyn Rees will win the scholarship that will take him out of the dying valleys and save his college.
But there are secrets; uncomfortable secrets, that Owen's fellow poets have kept close for decades.
One man holds the key - but to unlock the secrets, he must confront his own past and re-awaken the saddest of memories.
The Undone Years is a gripping piece of literature that provides insight into the hell of no man's land, as well as painting a picture of a gifted and tortured soul.
Recommended for fans of Sebastian Faulks, Pat Barker and the poetry of Wilfred Owen.
Murray Davies was born into a mining family in South Wales. He won a scholarship to UCW Aberystwyth where he studied International Politics, followed by an MA in First World War poetry. He worked for the Daily Mail and Mirror Group as a reporter and feature writer. After twenty years as a journalist, he became a novelist. His novel, Collaborator, won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 2003. His other works include The Drumbeat Of Jimmy Sands, Samson Option The Devil's Handshake, Dogs on the Street and the Chalke and Cheese books, Welcome to Meantime and Bad Blood in Meantime.
Praise for Murray Davies:
'An authentic look at the loneliness and conflicting loyalties often thrown up in wartime' Sunday Mirror
'A compelling and convincing read with some memorable characters' Tribune
'Very sturdy, very sustaining' Literary Review
'Davies is now firmly established among the premier league of writers delivering fast, well-crafted thrillers ... should be in everyone's beach bag this summer' Daily Mirror
Genre: Historical
He churns out the same vapid, adolescent verses as thousands of others.
Yet by the time Owen is killed in action in November 1918, he has won the MC and written the finest body of war poetry in the English language.
This is the enigma of Wilfred Owen.
An enigma that almost fifty years later, a labourer working in a doomed mining village needs to solve.
If he succeeds, Gwyn Rees will win the scholarship that will take him out of the dying valleys and save his college.
But there are secrets; uncomfortable secrets, that Owen's fellow poets have kept close for decades.
One man holds the key - but to unlock the secrets, he must confront his own past and re-awaken the saddest of memories.
The Undone Years is a gripping piece of literature that provides insight into the hell of no man's land, as well as painting a picture of a gifted and tortured soul.
Recommended for fans of Sebastian Faulks, Pat Barker and the poetry of Wilfred Owen.
Murray Davies was born into a mining family in South Wales. He won a scholarship to UCW Aberystwyth where he studied International Politics, followed by an MA in First World War poetry. He worked for the Daily Mail and Mirror Group as a reporter and feature writer. After twenty years as a journalist, he became a novelist. His novel, Collaborator, won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 2003. His other works include The Drumbeat Of Jimmy Sands, Samson Option The Devil's Handshake, Dogs on the Street and the Chalke and Cheese books, Welcome to Meantime and Bad Blood in Meantime.
Praise for Murray Davies:
'An authentic look at the loneliness and conflicting loyalties often thrown up in wartime' Sunday Mirror
'A compelling and convincing read with some memorable characters' Tribune
'Very sturdy, very sustaining' Literary Review
'Davies is now firmly established among the premier league of writers delivering fast, well-crafted thrillers ... should be in everyone's beach bag this summer' Daily Mirror
Genre: Historical
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