On a painful, freezing Easter Monday in 1917, Private Robert Gooding Henson of the Somerset Light Infantry is launched into the Battle of Arras.

Robert is twenty-three years old, a farmer's boy from Somerset, who joins up against his father's wishes. Robert forms fast friendships with Stanley, who lied about his age to go to war, and Ernest, whose own slippery account betrays a life on the streets. Their friendship is forged through gas attacks, trench warfare, freezing in trenches, hunting rats, and chasing down kidnapped regimental dogs. Their life is one of mud and mayhem but also love and laughs.This is the story of Robert's journey to Arras and back, his dreams and memories drawing him home. His story is that of the working-class Tommy, the story of thousands of young men who were caught in the collision between old rural values and the relentlessness of a new kind of war. It is a story that connects the past with the present through land, love and blood.

From a Somerset farm to the trenches of France: one man's coming of age through land, love and blood

About the Author

J. M. Cobley was born in Devon of Welsh parents and now lives in Warwickshire with his wife and daughter. Jason studied English Language and Literature at university and is currently Head Teacher at a hospital school in Coventry.

Jason is otherwise known for his work writing scripts for the long-running Commando comic and graphic novel adaptations of classics such as Frankenstein and An Inspector Calls, as well as the children's novel The Legend of Tom Hickathrift. Jason also hosts a weekly show on Radio Abbey in Kenilworth, where he indulges his passion for classic and progressive rock. The central character of A Hundred Years to Arras is based on his relative Robert Gooding Henson.

@JasonMCobley

jmcobley.wordpress.com

Reviews

'An elegy for a world swept away by the horrors of the First World War. A book written with so much love; beautifully written and deeply moving' Philip Gwynne Jones, author of The Venetian Legacy

Book Information
ISBN 9781789651492
Author Jason Cobley
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Unbound Digital
Publisher Unbound