The Living Unknown Soldier

By Jean-Yves Le Naour, Penny Allen (translator),

Book cover of The Living Unknown Soldier: A Story of Grief and the Great War

Book description

Chronicles the remarkable story of a World War I soldier who was discovered wandering in France with no memory of his identity and who was the focus of twenty years of court battles when he was "claimed" by hundreds of families whose fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers had been lost…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Living Unknown Soldier as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

With some 1.5 million men dead, and several million more wounded, the story of France and the Great War is in many ways simply the story of grief, and this work captures that beautifully. Through the tragic, true story of a wounded amnesiac veteran whose name and family are unknown, Le Naour tells the crucial story of women, families, and an entire culture in mourning, in many ways hopelessly. Yet the veteran and the people who try to help him or claim him as their own retain their dignity and humanity in this account.

From Richard's list on France and the first World War.

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