The Unknown Soldier: The Story of the Missing of the Great War - Softcover

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Neil Hanson is the author of three acclaimed works of narrative history: The Custom of the Sea, The Dreadful Judgement and The Confident Hope of a Miracle. He lives in Yorkshire with his family.

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Of all the million British dead of the First World War, only one - the Unknown Soldier - was ever returned to his native land. An anonymous symbol of all those lost without trace in the carnage of the battlefields, he was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey amid an outpouring of grief that brought the whole nation to a standstill.

Drawing on largely unpublished letters and diaries, Neil Hanson has resurrected the lives and experiences of three unknown soldiers - a Briton, a German and an American. Every word is based on the testimony of those who fought, those who died and those who mourned at home; each life described in unforgettable detail.

Few books have ever shown the true and horrific reality of warfare, or told such a moving story of human life and loss. These rare insights into three soldiers' lives capture the Great War in all its profound tragedy.

'Stories to break the heart. An unforgettable picture of life in the hottest sectors of the Western Front'

New York Times

'Hanson, an excellent writer, skilfully blends an astonishing mine of information into an absorbing and moving narrative... fascinating'

Literary Review

'Neil Hanson's prose (has) an almost unbearable poignancy...(and) all the sombre grandeur of the Beethoven funeral march'

Sunday Times