‘It’s a great sight, all the disused trenches, which were ploughed into nothing in the attacks, and the big stretch of ‘no-man’s land’ in which nothing can live and is full of corpses.’

As a boy, Alan Lloyd could never have imagined the harsh realities of the war he would one day fight in. In this retelling of his story, using extracts from diaries and correspondence, including Alan’s letters to his wife from the front line, Isobel Charman has woven together the tale of a journey from privileged young man to officer fighting for his life and country in World War I.

Descended from the Lloyds banking family, Alan grew up wanting for nothing. He studied at Cambridge, where his life revolved around rowing, cricket and planning his future. After university he fell in love and set about forging a career in farming, but then, just as the couple were ready to settle down, war broke out.

Against the wishes of his devout Quaker family, Alan joined the army. In July 1915 he left for France, where his life became one of guns, trenches, death and survival in the Great War.

This is the full account of Alan Lloyd’s life, whose experiences were featured in ITV’s The Great War: The People's Story. The tales from that television series, now made available in ebook format, form a set of personal, moving and at times humorous accounts of courage, love and loyalty in one of the worst wars in modern history.