As a child I became aware that my paternal grandfather, an artillery officer, survived the First World War virtually unscathed, along with his four brothers. My maternal grandfather also survived, only to take his life later. War has long and relentless tentacles. As a result I have read extensively about the 1914–18 war since a child and I thank all those books, too numerous to mention specifically.
I founded and administer Words for the Wounded to raise funds for our present-day wounded, and to a great extent it has driven Easterleigh Hall at War. The needs of the wounded are pressing, and may be for the rest of their lives, which, given their youth, will be long.
My thanks to the fantastic Wellington on the Strand, especially Michal, Jose and Esther, for the support they have given my lunchtime procrastination in the writing of this novel. Perhaps I should make it respectable by calling it thinking time.