Single-Handed: A Wartime Romance Letters From the Front

In the golden summer of 1914, Kenneth Dalgliesh, newly qualified as an architect, found his anticipated career blocked by the outbreak of war, and quickly enlisted in the Leicestershire Regiment. Throughout his military training and his service overseas he diligently wrote regular letters to his parents, the vast majority of which have survived, along with a large collection of Kenneth's detailed illustrations and sketches that he made while on military service. It is these that form and guide the narrative of this remarkable book.

The letters have been brought together and edited by the historian, Michael Hickey, who provides a commentary throughout, illuminating and enhancing Kenneth's observations with invaluable historical context. Thus it is that we travel with Kenneth to Flanders and the appalling privations of the Western Front, where he proved an inspiration to his men, leading by example in conditions described by those who endured them simply as 'hell'. In the late spring Kenneth was seriously wounded in the arm, which was later amputated, and his active military service was over.

Undaunted, he remained in the Army, and continued to write to his parents from Egypt, where he was posted as a Censor of military mails. Here he met his future wife, and a fascinating shift takes place in the tone of his correspondence, conveying the 'breathless enthusiasm and delight that a young man can feel on falling in love'. Part war journal, part love story, Single-Handed is a highly readable and hugely important addition to the literature devoted to the First World War.