Andrew Davidson, author of the highly praised Fred's War, analyses Colonel Chaplin's unique status and, using Chaplin's letters, creates a fascinating portrait of a soldier's life and of the war on the Western Front.

Colonel Graham Chaplin, commander of 1st Cameronians, wrote letters almost daily from the trenches to the wife he had married just before the war began. Even when he had no time to write, he would at least send a postcard to reassure his wife he was 'Quite well'.

These personal and loving letters, put in context of the Great War by Davidson, give a rare insight into the mind of a serving officer, his worries about his men and his family back home, his concern for the progress of the war (however cautiously phrased) and his comments on the growing list of friends dead or wounded.