One day, a small bundle of letters was found in a flea market. Kept together for one hundred years, these few letters tell of one teenage boy, Percy, and his girl, Kitty. This is a story of 1918, and of young people caught up in war, and of the war itself. It is a true story. Percy Edwards was conscripted into the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in 1918. Trained at Sniggery Camp near Liverpool, he was sent to the front, aged just 18. Percy's letters were few and his words sparse and immature, but they are very powerful. Tragically, he was to die of his wounds three weeks after his arrival.
Percy: A Story of 1918 is a unique book. Built around the words of a Young man from Wales, its narrative is constructed from surviving documents, war diaries, accounts of battle, and newspapers. It is an accurate picture of the war of 1918, a true story of one soldier representing the bigger picture.
Written by historian Peter Doyle in prose that is accessible to young readers, it is illustrated by Tim Godden, renowned illustrator of the war. What Percy brings is an authentic testimony of the final year of the Great war, through the eyes of one young man. Percy's story is typical of the last year of the war, when the British Army fielded a conscript army of 18 year olds. It was this army that would go on to win the war.
It is also a story of the contribution of Wales to the Great War.
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Peter Doyle is a scientist and military historian specializing in the role of terrain in warfare. He is a visiting Professor at University College London, and is co-secretary of the All Party Parliamentary War Heritage Group.
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