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A Foreign Field | 
 enlarge | Author: Ben Macintyre
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £7.98 (100%)
New (21) Used (84) Collectible (1) from £0.01
Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 24970
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0006531717
Dewey Decimal Number: 940
EAN: 9780006531715
ASIN: 0006531717
Publication Date: July 1, 2002
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: ex-library
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Amazon.co.uk Review
In A Foreign Field Ben MacIntyre has found another story from history's margins In two previous books, Forgotten Fatherland and The Napoleon of Crime, he focused on characters from the footnotes of history, creating compelling narratives from the stories of Nietzsche's sister and of a Victorian master criminal, brought it centre stage and constructed a very powerful drama of love, war and death around it. Robert Digby was a well-educated, middle-class private in the British Expeditionary Force at the beginning of World War I. In the very first month of the war, as the British, French and German armies surged back and forth across tracts of northern France, he became isolated behind enemy lines. When the fluid front lines of the war's first phase rapidly hardened into the murderous stalemate of the trenches, Digby and other British soldiers were permanently trapped in German-occupied territory. Seven, including Digby, took refuge in the small village of Villeret and were given shelter and assistance by the villagers. Under the noses of the German occupiers, they lived in Villeret for 18 months, masquerading as villagers. Relationships between the French peasants and the British soldiers grew strong. Digby fell in love with Claire Dessenne, the 19-year-old daughter of one of his protectors. In November 1915 Claire gave birth to Digby's daughter. Six months later someone in the village betrayed the men to the Germans. Digby and three others were captured, tried as spies and executed by firing squad. Digby's daughter, now in her 80s, still lives in northern France. Using her memories and those of other villagers, archive material and a handful of surviving letters by Digby (including one written to Claire only hours before his execution), Macintyre has produced a real-life story of the First World War as poignant and moving as Sebastian Faulks's novel Birdsong. --Nick Rennison
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
Villaret - Vive le France ... February 11, 2007
Mrs Pickers (Staffordshire, England)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book seems to have received mixed reviews and I would agree that it fares better in parts than others. However, the unmistakable quality of the writing and the research, merits more than a casual glance at this book.
It is true that it is primarily a love story, a story of great injustice and one of overwhelming sadness for the remaining victim - the daughter. It is also a wonderful depiction of the times and breaks your heart to read the realities of the mind-numbing atrocity that is war, of so many lost sons. We can never "make it better" but perhaps we can always remember. By reading this book, I believe we can try.
I would recommend this book to a variety of readers, not least family historians, to aid in their journey of discovery.
 A gripping 'whodunnit?' laced with wit May 5, 2004
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I must admit that I much prefer first world war 'fiction' (as in 'Birdsong' or the 'Regeneration Trilogy') to factual events and when I bought this book I made the mistake in thinking that's what I was getting.However,I was very pleasantly surprised.
The story of the 'four Englishmen of Villeret' and their untimely betrayal(by whom?) makes gripping reading.I found myself concerned for the soldiers and villagers and the circumstances in which they found themselves and although I was aware of the fate that befell them, the ending was not ruined. This due to Ben MacIntyre's painstaking research and interviews with the descendents of all involved in 1916. He puts forward theories of the locals as well as his own, but ultimately the reader is left to make their own assumptions as to 'whodunnit?'
moving and timely June 13, 2003
3 out of 10 found this review helpful
some people dismiss this as a glib, poorly written romance. they are mistaken. agreed the writing is shoddy and clumsy, at times childishly pretentious. agreed the plot is pure ealing. but that is to miss the point, namely that war makes ordinary people behave in an extraordinary fashion. to take as mr macintye does a simple story about a soldier and a woman is the easy bit. what is hard is to make it more than a simple romance. gamely mr macintyre searches for meaning so that we can relate what happens to his characters to what happens to the same sort of people in kosovo, afghanistan or iraq. mr macintyre lacks the requisite skills to quite accomplish his task. a better writer would have done better. he deserves acclaim for trying.
Real life love story October 23, 2002
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
This is not only a fascinating account of a real life love story with a tragic ending, but also an interesting insight into the lives of the inhabitants of Villeret and surrounding villages in northern France during the first world war. Well worth reading.
Fact, mixed with fiction makes for a great read August 7, 2002
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
This is a truly accomplished book. Taking real-life events that took place during the confusion at the beginning of the first world war in 1914, the author tells the true story of a group of allied soldiers caught behind German lines when the allies retreated. Centred around the town of Villeret in Picardy, characters (exceptionally well-researched) are brought to life as villains or heros. Sympathetically and at times humerously written, it portrays the confusion of war, and the fact that it will often bring out both the best and the worst in people. This book will particularly appeal to those with an amateur interest in the history of the First World War, due to the painstaking research that went into the book. eg Reading about the last (brave and desparate) cavalry charge of any major war, with the proud French cavalry, charging German machine gun lines was heart-rending and evocative. It also is a great chance to understand and share in the hopes and fears of young British soldiers lost in a foreign field. Fact mixed with fiction: a great mix when written so well.
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