A Foreign Field
Описание книги
This edition does not include illustrations.A wartime romance, survival saga and murder mystery set in rural France during the First World War. From the Number 1 bestselling author of ‘Agent ZigZag’ and ‘Operation Mincemeat’.Four young British soldiers find themselves trapped behind enemy lines at the height of the fighting on the Western Front in August 1914. Unable to get back to their units, they shelter in the tiny French village of Villeret, where they are fed, clothed and protected by the villagers, including the local matriarch Madame Dessenne, the baker and his wife.The self-styled leader of the band of fugitives, Private Robert Digby, falls in love with the 20-year-old daughter of one of his protectors, and in November 1915 she gives birth to a baby girl. The child is just six months old when someone betrays the men to the Germans. They are captured, tried as spies and summarily condemned to death.Using the testimonies of the daughter, the villagers, detailed town hall records and, most movingly, the soldiers’ last letters, Ben Macintyre reconstructs an extraordinary story of love, duplicity and shame – ultimately seeking to discover through decades of village rumour the answer to the question, ‘Who betrayed Private Digby and his men?’ In this new updated edition the mystery is finally solved.This edition does not include illustrations.
Оглавление
Ben Macintyre. A Foreign Field
A FOREIGN FIELD. A True Story of Love and Betrayal in the Great War. BEN MACINTYRE
Table of Contents
Note on Sources
Prologue
CHAPTER ONE. The Angels of Mons
CHAPTER TWO. Villeret, 1914
CHAPTER THREE. Born to the Smell of Gunpowder
CHAPTER FOUR. Fugitives
CHAPTER FIVE. Behind the Trenches
CHAPTER SIX. Battle Lines
CHAPTER SEVEN. Rendezvous
CHAPTER EIGHT. Aren’t Those Things Flowers?
CHAPTER NINE. Sparks of Life
CHAPTER TEN. The Englishman’s Daughter
CHAPTER ELEVEN. Brave British Soldier
CHAPTER TWELVE. Remember Me
CHAPTER THIRTEEN. The Somme
CHAPTER FOURTEEN. The Wasteland
CHAPTER FIFTEEN. Villeret, 1930
EPILOGUE. Villeret, 1999
Acknowledgements
Select Bibliography
PUBLIC AND INSTITUTIONAL RECORDS. FRANCE
ENGLAND
Notes
About the Author
Also by the Author
Index
Copyright
About the Publisher