This is essentially a love story of the Great War inspired by a recently unearthed family collection of more than 100 letters, running to more than 240 pages, written between 1915 and 1919 by Fred Allwood to his sweetheart Phyllis James. What these letters offer us is incredible detail about the life that he led for over 3 years on the Western Front. Written as historical fiction, the main characters and events are portrayed with historical accuracy and Fred’s letters, with their minutiae of detail, are woven into the story in their original form. His words tell the story, not of the fighting and the dreadfulness of the conflict but of his love, his doubts and his fears. The story traces four principal characters, real people from the Kalgan River near Albany in Western Australia, and tells of how the war impacted on them all and those around them. I am aware that other authors have drawn on primary sources to tell of such war experiences but by creating a narrative from real events and including such a volume of primary material I hope this work will bring a different perspective to such an immense event that is looming in our consciousness with the approach of the ANZAC centenary in Australia. Alan James 2013.
