When Francis House enlists in the British Army in 1907, at the tender age of fifteen years and three months, he is not thinking about war. He imagines he simply wants to earn his stripes – to ease his traumatised father’s Boer War memories, or perhaps to please his favourite sister, Lily, with whom he has always dreamt of adventure.
But he soon discovers that simply becoming a soldier is not enough and, against the advice of his sergeant, he determines to seek out a real fight. Wading ashore at Gallipoli seven years later, Francis thinks he might just have found the site of his greatest opportunity. Here, he thinks, he might finally prove himself a man.
First, though, he must find his missing friend Berto.
He needs to say sorry. He cannot yet imagine the ghosts that might stand in his way.
Genre: Historical
But he soon discovers that simply becoming a soldier is not enough and, against the advice of his sergeant, he determines to seek out a real fight. Wading ashore at Gallipoli seven years later, Francis thinks he might just have found the site of his greatest opportunity. Here, he thinks, he might finally prove himself a man.
First, though, he must find his missing friend Berto.
He needs to say sorry. He cannot yet imagine the ghosts that might stand in his way.
Genre: Historical
Praise for this book
"Phenomenal. An utterly extraordinary, visceral and powerful book. Effortlessly weaves ideas around storytelling and the power of imagination into a heart-felt, heart-breaking tale of loss, love, friendship and the devastating effects of war. One of the most exquisite, raw and outstanding books I have ever read." - Liz Hyder
"This is a remarkable book. Rebecca F. John recreates the entirely convincing experience of a British soldier in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. We immediately believe in Francis House, ultimately promoted to Sergeant, through John's fascinating detail and psychological understanding of a man with a disturbed past, plied with tincture of opium by his army doctor. She evokes both the time and the place wonderfully in a narrative voice infused with Welsh sensitivity to language. And we are constantly aware of the sea whose marvelously observed presence is there from the beginning of the book to its end." - Alix Nathan
"This is a remarkable book. Rebecca F. John recreates the entirely convincing experience of a British soldier in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. We immediately believe in Francis House, ultimately promoted to Sergeant, through John's fascinating detail and psychological understanding of a man with a disturbed past, plied with tincture of opium by his army doctor. She evokes both the time and the place wonderfully in a narrative voice infused with Welsh sensitivity to language. And we are constantly aware of the sea whose marvelously observed presence is there from the beginning of the book to its end." - Alix Nathan
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