The Living Unknown Soldier

[Terry_Reeves]

This book was first published in France in 2002 under the title "Le Soldat Inconnu Vivant". Written by Jean-Yves Le Naour, it is now available in English, published by William Heinnemann.

In February 1918, a dirty, dishevelled French soldier was found at a Lyon railway station. He could not remember his name or anything about his past, and had no identification. He was subsequently found to be suffering from a rare form of amnesia and spent the rest of his life in asylums. The author traces the attempts to find his real identity, and as a result, reveals the real tragedy of the story; the families, particularly in France, but also abroad, who thought that he was their missing husband or brother. This true story is essentially about the aftermath of war and people who could not come to terms with the grief that surrounded loved ones who never returned.

Terry Reeves

[robbie]

I have just finished this book. As Terry says, it is for the most part, about the difficulties experienced by huge numbers of people, mainly women, whose son, fiance, husband, brother was listed as missing. Recommend it highly.

Robbie