The recent discovery of a wooden chest, unopened for 100 years revealed a treasure trove of eloquent trench diaries, letters and poetry. The author was Hamish Mann, a young Black Watch subaltern killed in France in 1917 just five days after his 21st birthday.Thanks to Manns outstanding literary gifts and prodigious output, this book re-lives his fateful journey from the declaration of war, his voluntary work at a military hospital, his training and commission and, finally, his service with 8th Black Watch on the Somme.The daily hardship and trauma he experienced at the Front were shared with countless thousands of his comrades. But Hamishs extraordinary gift was his ability to record the traumatic events and the range of his emotions, writing often in his dug-out by the light of a guttering candle.A century on, thanks to the Familys discovery and Jacquie Buttrisss sensitive commentary, Hamishs tragically short life can be celebrated and his literary legacy given the recognition it so richly deserves.
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978-1-5267-4510-1 (9781526745101)
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Jacquie Buttriss is a biographer, memoirist, educational and childrens author of 61 books, published by Macmillan, Hodder and Stoughton, Harper-Collins and others. She has had two Sunday Times Bestsellers, one of which was also Canadas best-selling non-fiction book, 2015.
Amongst her previous books have been three war-memoirs, one of which was short-listed in the British Librarys National Life-Story Awards. She has been a speaker on both BBC television and radio, as well as writing for The Times, The Guardian and the TES.
A former headteacher, Ofsted Inspector, chair of two charities and currently a historian and museum research co-ordinator, Jacquie loves writing about past events through the lives of the people who lived them. Her home is in an ancient Sussex settlement, steeped in history.
