A. P. Herbert

Sir Alan Patrick Herbert CH (usually writing as A. P. Herbert or A. P. H.; 24 September 1890 – 11 November 1971) was an English humorist, novelist, playwright and law reform activist. He was an independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford University for 15 years, five of which he combined with service in the Royal Navy. "The Secret Battle" is a novel by A. P. Herbert, first published in 1919. The book draws upon Herbert's experiences as a junior...

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...

From the trenches to the home front, the most profound fiction inspired by World War I--and a moving memorial to the twentieth century's most cataclysmic event. The Great War gave birth to some of the twentieth century's most celebrated writing; from Brooke to Sassoon, the poetry generated by the war is etched into collective memory. But it is in prose fiction that we find some of the most profound insights into the war's individual and communal...