Often when I’m asked why I’ve chosen particular themes, I talk about a “connection” with places, events, or people that sparks an idea. For this book, the first connection was with sixteen-year-old Private Abraham Bevistein, from the Middlesex Regiment in WWI, who gave a false name and lied about his age when he signed up for war. He suffered injury and severe anxiety for which he was hospitalised. When later he wandered away from the trenches he was put on trial and executed for desertion. Oftentimes these soldiers had been paralyzed by fear, disorientated by the noise and chaos of battle around them, or suffering a nervous breakdown or shell shock, the condition yet to be fully explored.
My second connection was with Leuven (formerly known by the French name of Louvain) in Belgium where the Catholic university library lost over two hundred thousand precious manuscripts and pieces of art in WWI.   This led me to read in detail about Belgium’s story of invasion, which seemed obscured by many other English-written texts regarding major events, tragedies, and acts of heroism from the period. Resistance fighters secretly printed and distributed newspapers to inform the Belgians of news from abroad as well as helping injured soldiers escape into Holland with details about the privations and losses they were experiencing under occupation and other intelligence to aid the Allies.