Based on a well known photograph of cw soldier,
Author Patrick Mercer gives us a trench life view of crimean war.

You can almost catch teh cholera when not swerving to avoid rouskie baynoette in the fetid shrapnel filled atmosphere he creates.Enjoyable read and of course tribute to the turkish deserved a place in his lines.
also notable is teh passing activities and co operation of cav inf and art.anyone else read it.

Dear Hank

He did the Osprey title on Inkerman. Patrick Mercer is a Conservative politician who was sacked by David Cameron in 2007 so he had a bit more time for writing. I have only read a few extracts and I generally don't read much fiction. I would imagine it is very well researched and he does try to put himself in the soldiers' shoes. They come over as full blooded men rather than Victorian automata
The effing and blinding seems more 21st c than 19th c but it does create atmosphere. "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there" Leslie P Hartley
In a novel it makes sense to write with the mores and idioms of your own time.

David

i look at teh cover and was a little confuse with teh uniform, back AND FRONT CROSS BELTS and then without seems odd I have paperback edition not hard back so i not know if it is different.

What a smelly book it is you can vivdly imagine all the dirt and grime smoke blood and animal mess of tousands in a small area.the coughing of men with gun powder smoke in lungs and screaming of injures animals.

a good week for me i have a photograph in a book, in sort of organic gardening and field work. All good
fun.I am watching particular a flower called "the blue danube".have a good week