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'Exceptional... This is the most searching and original book I have read about the impact of the First World War on the faith and the myths of this country.'
‘Don't be fooled. This is not just another book on the tragedy of the First World War. It is an intelligent, personal and provocative study of human identity and the symbols and rituals with which we seek to explore it. Elaine Scarry reminded us that “the main purpose and outcome of war is injuring”. With an honest and reflective freshness, Rachel Mann surveys the extent of the injury and how imagination can open up spaces we grow into if we are to survive it.’
‘This is an astonishing book – a profound and searching multi-disciplinary examination of the First World War and its cultural history, a meditation on faith and identity. Absolutely timely, moving and insightful, lyrical and elegiac, this is a book I’ll return to again and again.’
From Rachel Mann, Canon Poet-in-Residence at Manchester cathedral, comes a lyrical and very personal story of remembrance, faith, family and identity shaped by the chaos and trauma wrought by the Great War and the flux in early twentieth century Europe. Rachel brilliantly explores the significance of the War to all of us today who live under its long shadow – our shared memories, culture and the symbols and relics that linger on all around us, as well as the influence of the Great War on her grandparents and how it echoed through her childhood in 1970s Britain discovering her authentic self in God, undergoing a change of sex and experiencing chronic illness and disability. Foreword by Rowan Williams.
