While this book is part fact and part historical fiction I thought the two tellings blended well together. Some stories were told of actual survivors of both world war one and world war two, of events that happened and of incidents that occurred, leaving lasting traces, both physical and psychological on those they affected. We see events from a variety of perspectives including that of the author and the authors father who fought in world war one. This was a very interesting and insightful read. I thought it was well planned and presented and I learned quite a bit about world war one in particular.

What a page-turner. Interwoven characters from the 1st world war up to modern times. A beautifully written bit of history that can reduce one to tears on more than one occasion. The author, on a battlefield tour, encapsulates the naivety and total horror of a soldier in the trenches who lost so many friends and survived. How life had to 'go on' and why so many did not speak of the atrocities witnessed.