Into the Unknown

World War I (and its aftermath) in the words of a young soldier fresh off a remote New Zealand farm, written with immediacy, emotion and clarity.

A personal account of WWI from the diaries of a Gisborne farm boy, shaped into a gripping narrative by the diarist's grandson 100 years later. Follow Alick as he moves from his last night on the farm in early 1916, through enshipment and training, then off to the battlefields of France and Belgium, occupied Germany, and back home.

His treasured diaries covered the tedium, the mud, the fear and sorrow, the discomfort, the periods of leave, and the letters from those back home. See the war unfold through Alick's eyes and learn about his and his companions' attitudes to the army, to female company, to the enemy soldiers, to the hospitality provided by people under pressure, to the war itself.

And after the drama and tragedy of war, comes the return home and the efforts required to make a living while remaining steadfastly silent about the traumas of those terrible years—an unseen fight that continued and affected the generations that followed.