Your Death Would Be Mine
Book description
Paul and Marie Pireaud, a young peasant couple from southwest France, were newlyweds when World War I erupted. With Paul in the army from 1914 through 1919, they were forced to conduct their marriage mostly by correspondence. Drawing upon the hundreds of letters they wrote, Martha Hanna tells their moving…
Why read it?
2 authors picked Your Death Would Be Mine as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
One of the very best books in English about France during this time, Hanna mines a treasure trove of letters between a married peasant couple from southwest France to tell an intimate history of the war, of its effects on families, women, villages, men, and the countryside. War stories take place on battlefields, of course, but also in homes and in hearts. Anyone wanting to understand the experience of the Great War at the front, on the home front, and everywhere in between, should start here.
From Richard's list on France and the first World War.
Soldiers and loved ones wrote tens of millions of letters during the war, as they supported one another and tried to close the gap of distance and time. These literary sources provide a glimpse into the war in the trenches and that at home, and one of my favourite books is Hanna’s Your Death Would be Mine. Based on a rich collection of letters between a French soldier and his wife, the reader peers into the secret war shared between those in uniforms and those who waited for them at home.
From Tim's list on the Great War and why it haunts us.
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