To Fight Alongside Friends by Gerry Harrison

To Fight Alongside Friends by Gerry Harrison

The First World War Diaries of Manchester Pals Captain Charlie May written and kept in secret and published now for the first time. A born storyteller, Charlie Mays vivid eye for detail and warm good humour brings his experience in the trenches (and the experience of millions of ordinary men like him) to life for a 21st-century readership.

‘May proved to be a natural diarist, as wry as he was sharp-eyed’ Daily Mail, Books of the Year

‘What shines through like sunshine is Charlie May’s default belief in service to country, his quiet commitment to others over self, and his sheer decencyYou could bet your life on Charlie. And, in a way, we did’ The Times

‘Captain May’s words offer a rare and vivid insight into life in the trenches: of rats and death, and the men’s optimism as they prepared to go into battle. They also read as a moving love letter to the wife he adored and the little girl he couldn’t wait to be reunited with’ Daily Express

‘Sensitive and bright … May is a gifted storyteller and his uncensored diary makes for fine reading’ Daily Mail

‘[We] want to hear the voices of those who were there, unencumbered by 21st century prejudices … ‘To Fight Alongside Friends’ [is] the disarmingly jaunty, previously unpublished diaries of Captain Charlie May … beautifully edited and minutely annotated’ Sunday Times

‘Reflective and acute … By July 1st 1916, when the last diary entry was entered at 5.45am, the reader feels that they know Charlie May, and what follows comes as a shock, as if a cinema reel had broken in mid-reel … [the diaries] linger in the memory [and] deserve to be made available to a wider audience. They testify to how the 1914 generation drew on literary expression to order and to mediate what is commonly supposed to have been an incommunicably dreadful experience’ Financial Times

‘Every so often one comes across a diary where it is the sense of personality behind it that lift it out of the ordinary: such a diary is that of Captain Charlie May’ David Crane

‘The diary of Captain Charlie May provides a fascinating insight into the mind of a young British officer. It is peppered with intriguing insights, acute observations and the hectic, heart-stopping flurries of nocturnal trench raids’
Robin Cross, author of the bestselling ‘VE-Day’

Born in India, Gerry Harrison returned to England for his education. Leaving school, and to fulfil a passion, he became an actor, before following a rewarding career on the production side of feature films. He has since worked for as a producer for Channel Four, BBC and ITV, and then as a councillor for twelve years. Meanwhile he has written pieces for the Guardian and the Times, and the Irish Times. He lives in Ireland.

Born in Dunedin, Charles Campbell May, is one of the most quoted New Zealand citizens of World War I. He was killed in 'No Man's Land' on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916. Passages from his wartime diaries have been anthologised in books, academic and popular, about that war and that battle. His diaries, the originals of which are in the Regimental Archive near Manchester, have pride of place in the Imperial War Museum in London.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780007558551
ISBN 10	0007558554
Title	To Fight Alongside Friends
Author	Gerry Harrison
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	HarperCollins Publishers
Year published	2015-11-05
Number of pages	304
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.