In The Secret Battle A.P. Herbert tells the story of an idealistic, young officer called Harry Penrose. First in Gallipoli, then in the trenches of France, he is tested and brought to breaking point as he battles to retain the ideals of military glory, duty and courage amidst the daily grinding miseries of the trenches. It lays bare the real horrors of the First World War without melodrama or sensationalism. The author tells his tales not with indignant protest, but with a sad resignation making this a haunting and deeply moving book. Despite the glowing accolades it would later receive, when it was first published in 1919, just a few months after the Armistice, a war-weary public were not ready for a book that so fundamentally challenged the assumptions and beliefs on which the war had been fought. Because of that it never gained the status it really deserved and deserves. Ninety years on it has lost none of its freshness, relevance and poignancy, It remains an incredible touching story of what might happen to a gallant soldier borne down by stresses of war and challenges traditional perceptions of what constitutes courage. It also raises important questions over the justice or otherwise of executions in the First World War, a question that is now more than ever, an open matter of debate and contention. AUTHOR: Alan Patrick Herbert (1890-1971) was a novelist comedy writer, poet, humourist, MP and law reform activist. He also served in both World Wars. He was a regular contributor to the comic magazine Punch and his numerous books include The House by the River, The Water Gipsies, and The Singing Swan. He was knighted in 1945.
