There is an added poignancy to this tale because it is based on a young man who survived.
Despite being under age, he, like many of his friends wanted to go off to fight in the Great War especially when his father went off to war. After being accepted, Sydney is trained and shipped off to the front where the horrors of war become a reality. Due to censorship he is unable to convey this in his letters to his mother. Despite the horrors surrounding him Stanley still worries about his mother and father. The damage that is inflicted by war on families is brought to the fore by the final letter in the book from his father, telling his mother that he is coming home and looking forward to seeing him.
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Althea Samuels, class teacher and independent consultant. 