Sailor's Heart

By Martin Campbell,

Book cover of Sailor's Heart

Book description

1942. The war at sea is being lost. One per cent of all naval personnel are being referred as psychiatric casualties. The British Admiralty introduces the Stone Frigate approach.
Three men fight for their country in the Arctic convoys of World War II, then for their sanity and dignity, labelled…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

2 authors picked Sailor's Heart as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Sailor’s Heart is a courageous book about a topic close to my own heart: the impact of trauma on fighting men in WWII. After researching and writing about the RAF’s treatment of men deemed “lacking in moral fibre,” I was fascinated by this book, which looks at the Admiralty’s handling of the same phenomenon. 

Based on admiralty records, Sailor’s Heart provides three vivid examples of wartime stress causing otherwise healthy individuals to suffer a breakdown in morale. I loved the fact that Campbell avoids formula writing and does not attempt to “fulfill market expectations." (e.g. no dramatic rescue, no love…

Not just another book on World War II—Sailor’s Heart by Martin Campbell is a story that has not been told before. It is the fictionalized (but heavily and exhaustively researched) story of three Royal Navy sailors who experienced traumas that rendered them unable to go on. Campbell says the condition “sailor’s heart” is the loss of interest in the battle and then the will to fight or the will to live.” With no end to the war in sight, the men are sentenced to an undefined period of rehabilitation in a Royal Navy hospital that has anything but the…

From Rona's list on untold stories from World War II.

Want books like Sailor's Heart?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Sailor's Heart.

Browse books like Sailor's Heart

Book cover of In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
Book cover of The Indomitable Florence Finch: The Untold Story of a War Widow Turned Resistance Fighter and Savior of American POWs
Book cover of The Inextinguishable Symphony: A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,172

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in the British Royal Navy, psychiatry, and presidential biography?

Psychiatry 31 books