“Generals, colonels, majors, and captains have all written books about the First World War, but in the years that have since come and gone, I have never read or even heard of one that was written by a sergeant, a corporal, or a private, the lowly common front-line foot soldier.”
A Boy From Botwood is exceptional for many reasons, primarily for being an account of a front-line soldier who fought (and incredibly survived) battles in Gallipoli, the Somme, and Passchendaele. Private Manuel was also captured and became a prisoner of war and his detailed account of life in a German “slave camp” (and his failed escape attempt) is remarkable as well, for there is not another account that exists which is so comprehensive.
Looking back on the war some sixty years later at age 84, Arthur laments:
“Of the ten volunteers from [Botwood] and its surrounding neighbourhood who joined the regiment when I did early in the war…only three of us survived to return home. Ten boys, all under twenty years of age, from England’s most neglected colony. I doubt if there were another ten boys in the whole British Empire with less to protect or defend or with less cause to fight and die for their so-called king and country.”
A fascinating, well-told account of the exigencies of war and his time served as a POW, A Boy From Botwood is a true treasure, of equal or more value than any existing historical account for it’s honesty, authenticity, and particularly for Manuel’s survival throughout it all and his forethought to commit it to tape and have it transcribed for posterity. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it goes on my 2017 VeryBest Book Awards Longlist for Non-Fiction (History).
A Boy From Botwood by Pte. A.W. Manuel
Dundurn Press
James M. Fisher is the owner and editor-in-chief of The Miramichi Reader. He began TMR in 2015, realizing that there was a genuine need for more book reviews of Canadian literature. It has since become Canada’s best-regarded source for the finest in new literary releases. James has been interviewed about TMR on CBC Radio and other media sites. James works as a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Technologist and lives in Miramichi, New Brunswick with his wife Diane and their tabby cat Eddie.