The discovery of his relationship to a First World War soldier fires Andy, the author, with an almost obsessive desire to uncover the whole story. It is the story of a hero from an unlikely background and Andy finds uncanny echoes of it in the 21st century. He tells it with tremendous enthusiasm and attention to detail. The humour and typical 'Black Country' expressions are well known in the area today and would have been very familiar to one very extraordinary Grenadier Guard.
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By Alan Cleaver
Sep 8, 2012
What a cracking book. Andy's enthusiasm for his topic shines through and carries the reader with it. Anyone who has researched family history and found a story as powerful as this one will know precisely the excitement that Andy feels on finding an ancestor who fought in World War I (and took part in the Christmas Truce). Anyone who hasn't yet done their family tree will undoubtedly be inspired by Harry Hackett. There's plenty of detailed research but plenty of good story-telling in a lively conversational style. And Andy brings it all up to date with comparisons with a soldier who fought in Afghanistan this century. Vanity publishing sometimes gets a bad name but the standard of this work sets the standard others can only hope to match.
