Alexander Baron's 'War Trilogy'

Spring 1944, the south coast of England. The Fifth Battalion, Wessex Regiment, wait patiently and nervously for the order to embark. There is boredom and fear, comedy and pathos as the men all drawn from different walks of life await the order to move. With an economy of language that belies its emotional impact, From the City, from the Plough is a vivid and moving account of the fate of these men as they embark for the beaches of Normandy and advance into France, where the battalion suffers devastating casualties.

In August 1943, Sergeant Craddock leads his battle-weary platoon down Via Garibaldi in Catania, Sicily. Struck by the oppressive heat and the alien new surroundings, the men soon settle into this lull in their combat experience. The next few weeks take on a dreamlike quality as newfound relationships flourish and the war itself - let alone homelife in Britain - recedes into the distance. Against this backdrop, the second book of Alexander Baron's War Trilogy meditates upon friendship, loyalty and love.

Spanning the Sicilian countryside to the brothels of Ostend, and the final book in Alexander Baron's War Trilogy, The Human Kind is a series of pithy vignettes reflective of the author's own wartime experiences. From the interminable days of training in Britain to brutal combat across north-west Europe, the book depicts many of the men, women - and, in some cases, children - affected by the widespread reach of the Second World War.