Books with author Ap Herbert

The Secret Battle is a novel about a soldier executed for cowardice. The novel follows the career of a young officer, Harry Penrose. A sensitive, educated young man, Penrose had enlisted in the ranks in 1914, immediately after completing his second year at Oxford. After six months in training he had been prevailed upon by his relatives – like most educated volunteers – to take a commission as an officer. Penrose slowly asserts himself; the war takes a toll on his personality, but he begins to live up to his early dreams of heroism. However, his creeping self-doubt grows by degrees; he is reassigned from his post as scouting officer once on the Somme, knowing he cannot face another night patrol, and earns the wrath of his commanding officer – an irascible Regular colonel – over a trivial incident. The book draws upon author's experiences as a junior infantry officer in the First World War, and has been praised for its accurate and truthful portrayal of the mental effects of the war on the participants. It was one of the earliest novels to contain a detailed description of Gallipoli, or to challenge the Army's executions of soldiers for desertion.

Excerpt from The Bomber Gipsy: And Other PoemsCome, let me tell the oft-told tale again Of that strange Tyneside grenadier we had, Whom none could quell or decently constrain, For he was turbulent and sometimes bad; Yet, stout of heart, he dearly loved to fight, And spoke his fellows on a gusty night In some high barn, where, huddled in the straw, They watched the cheap wicks gutter on the shelf, How he was irked with discipline and law, And would fare forth to battle by himself.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

When Stephen Byrne strangled his housemaid in a fit of rage to silence her screams, he felt no compulsion to admit his crime and pay for his misdemeanour. Instead he enlisted the help of his friend to help dispose of the body and then pointed the finger at this same friend in a callous attempt to steal the man’s lover. And so a hateful bond is born out of a once loyal friendship – a bond formed to quell all accusations. Yet as this chilling story of murder, betrayal and revenge reaches its thrilling climax, it seems that the price must be paid for the screams that were silenced in the house by the river.

Excerpt from Casuals in the Caucasus: The Diary of a Sporting HolidayThinking on the frosty Caucasus. Richard II.Will you go with me? Much Ado About Nothing.Met together to rehearse a play. Midsummer Night's Dream.At the gate of Europe is an alluring, beckoning, magical country, where the centuries mingle in confused contrast, and Nature plays protagonist to herself.The Caucasus.Does not the very name breathe the weird suggestive mystery of a primitive environment, the rough-hewn fascination of barbaric peoples?Nowhere else in all the world can be found so myriad-minded and romantic a land, so many-sided, so rich in colours and fertile in forms.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In The Secret Battle A. P. Herbert tells the story of an idealistic, young officer called Harry Penrose. First in Gallipoli, then in the trenches of France, he is tested and brought to breaking point as he battles to retain the ideals of military glory, duty and courage amidst the daily grinding miseries of the trenches. It lays bare the real horrors of the First World War without melodrama, or sensationalism. The author tells his tale not with indignant protest, but with a sad resignation making this a haunting and deeply moving book.Despite the glowing accolades it would later receive, when it was first published in 1919, just a few months after the Armistice, a war-weary public were not ready for a book that so fundamentally challenged the assumptions and beliefs on which the war had been fought. Because of that it never quite gained the status it really deserved and deserves. Ninety years on it has lost none of its freshness, relevance and poignancy. It remains an incredibly touching story of what might happen to a gallant soldier borne down by the stresses of war and challenges traditional perceptions of what constitutes courage. It also raises important questions over the justice or otherwise of executions in the First World War: a question that is now more than ever, an open matter of debate and contention.This edition includes an Introduction by Winston Churchill and a new Foreword by Malcolm Brown who was a great admirer of Herbert.

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