Book description
Beautifully presented young readers edition of the bestselling memoir
of a young soldier on the First World War s Western Front.'It's the end
of the 1916 winter and the conditions are almost unbelievable. We live
in a world of Somme mud. We sleep in it, work in it, fight in it, wade
in it and many of us die in it. We see it, feel it, eat it and curse it,
but we can't escape it, not even by dying.'Private Edward Lynch was just
18 when he enlisted in the army. When he returned to Australia almost
three years later, he wrote Somme Mud, a vivid account of the horrific
realities of trench warfare from an ordinary infantryman s point of
view: the traumatised soldiers and ravaged landscapes, the curious
mixture of hatred, empathy and admiration for the equally naive enemy
soldiers, the disillusionment and the camaraderie. Lynch s candour and
down-to-earth wit make Somme Mud engaging for any reader, while archival
photographs, a full glossary and editor Will Davies explanatory
chapter introductions make this edition an illuminating text for
students. As well as a memoir of one man s experience of war, Somme Mud
is an evocative record of the language and attitudes of early twentieth
century Australia. Will Davies is a historian, writer and filmmaker.
Somme Mud: The war experiences of an Australian infantryman in France
1916-1919, which he edited, has become a bestseller in Australia and the
UK and has also been published in The Netherlands. In the Footsteps of
Private Lynch has also been published to acclaim in Australia and the
UK. Will Davies has also written Beneath Hill 60 and edited Somme Mud:
Young Readers' Edition for high school aged readers.
