FOREIGN FIELD EPUB ED EB

Ben Macintyre

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780007395262
• eBook ISBN: 9780007378395
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

This edition does not include illustrations.

A wartime romance, survival saga and murder mystery set in rural France during the First World War. From the Number 1 bestselling author of 'Agent ZigZag' and 'Operation Mincemeat'.

Four young British soldiers find themselves trapped behind enemy lines at the height of the fighting on the Western Front in August 1914. Unable to get back to their units, they shelter in the tiny French village of Villeret, where they are fed, clothed and protected by the villagers, including the local matriarch Madame Dessenne, the baker and his wife.

The self-styled leader of the band of fugitives, Private Robert Digby, falls in love with the 20-year-old daughter of one of his protectors, and in November 1915 she gives birth to a baby girl. The child is just six months old when someone betrays the men to the Germans. They are captured, tried as spies and summarily condemned to death.

Using the testimonies of the daughter, the villagers, detailed town hall records and, most movingly, the soldiers' last letters, Ben Macintyre reconstructs an extraordinary story of love, duplicity and shame – ultimately seeking to discover through decades of village rumour the answer to the question, 'Who betrayed Private Digby and his men?' In this new updated edition the mystery is finally solved.

This edition does not include illustrations.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Note on Sources
• Prologue
• CHAPTER ONE - The Angels of Mons
• CHAPTER TWO - Villeret, 1914
• CHAPTER THREE - Born to the Smell of Gunpowder
• CHAPTER FOUR - Fugitives
• CHAPTER FIVE - Behind the Trenches
• CHAPTER SIX - Battle Lines
• CHAPTER SEVEN - Rendezvous
• CHAPTER EIGHT - Aren’t Those Things Flowers?
• CHAPTER NINE - Sparks of Life
• CHAPTER TEN - The Englishman’s Daughter
• CHAPTER ELEVEN - Brave British Soldier
• CHAPTER TWELVE - Remember Me
• CHAPTER THIRTEEN - The Somme
• CHAPTER FOURTEEN - The Wasteland
• CHAPTER FIFTEEN - Villeret, 1930
• EPILOGUE - Villert, 1999
• Acknowledgements
• Select Bibliography
• Notes
• About the Author
• Also by the Author
• Index
• Copyright
• About the Publisher