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.