Love Letters of the Great War - by Mandy Kirkby (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

From the private papers of a young Winston Churchill to the tender notes of an unknown Tommy in the trenches, Love Letters of the Great War is a collection of profound, intimate and heartfelt letters written during World War One.

Many of the letters collected here are eloquent declarations of love and longing; others contain wrenching accounts of fear, jealousy and betrayal; and a number share sweet dreams of home. But in all the correspondence - whether from British, American, French, German, Russian, Australian and Canadian troops in the height of battle, or from the heartbroken wives and sweethearts left behind - there lies a truly human portrait of love and war.

A century on from the First World War, these letters offer an intimate glimpse into the hearts of men and women separated by conflict, and show how love can transcend even the bleakest and most devastating of realities.

Edited and introduced by Mandy Kirkby, with a foreword from Women's Prize-winner Helen Dunmore.

Review Quotes

"[Love Letters of the Great War] gathers together the most moving, intimate and fascinating correspondence to and from soldiers fighting in the First World War" --Telegraph

"Heartbreaking letters from the hell of the trenches . . . a moving collection" --Daily Mail

"The passions of war are universal: these letters reflect the constancy of gallantry, intimacy and grief" --Iain Finlayson, The Times

"Touching and fascinating first-hand accounts . . . a brilliant collection, and a must-read for both young and old" --Press and Journal

"Love Letters of the Great War, sensitively edited by Mandy Kirkby and with an insightful foreword by Helen Dunmore, is more than a touching anthology. It shows that letters gave men the chance to reflect on their transformation into soldiers, allowed absent husbands and fathers to participate in family life, formed a point of physical contact between separated lovers . . . and, in spite of the censors, provided a forum for sexual fantasy" --Kate McLoughlin, TLS

"Emotive and poignant" --Sunday Post

About the Author

Mandy Kirkby is an editor and author of The Language of Flowers: a Miscellany.

Helen Dunmore is an acclaimed bestselling author, poet, children's novelist and short-story writer. Among her novels are Zennor in Darkness, which won the McKitterick Prize; A Spell of Winter, which won the inaugural Orange Prize; The Siege, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award and for the Orange Prize; The Betrayal, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Orwell Prize; Mourning Ruby, House of Orphans, Counting the Stars. Her 2014 novel The Lie is set during and just after the First World War.