TimCatherall Posted 5 February , 2008 Share Posted 5 February , 2008 This book is about to be published (21st Feb) in the UK. I believe it has been published in Australia already. Its the diares of an Aussie late 1916 to 1919 in France. Written up after the war but never published until now. Written in ordinary soldiers language (and very un pc in parts) its a great read. Tells the story of the poor bloody infantryman and holds nothing back. I was lucky enought to be given a copy my sister in law had received via the publishers PR dept. I recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted 5 February , 2008 Share Posted 5 February , 2008 Tim The book has been the subject of considerable previous discussion on the Forum. You might like to look at: http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...78&hl=lynch to see that most agree with your review. Regards Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimCatherall Posted 6 February , 2008 Author Share Posted 6 February , 2008 Ah - should have done a search! Glad to hear others like the book too. Its out soon in the UK for us Poms to enjoy anyway so hopefully my post will highlight it for others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simmo Posted 7 February , 2008 Share Posted 7 February , 2008 Hi Tim - I received this as a birthday present and I couldn't put it down. Reading numerous accounts of the horror of the conflict I can get accustomed (if thats the right word) to it all, but his account of salvage work carried out around Delville Wood in the winter 16/17 is truly ghastly! Simmo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanCurragh Posted 7 February , 2008 Share Posted 7 February , 2008 I've picked up a copy in Waterstones today - currently has a £4 discount on the £17.99 cover price there.... Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roxy Posted 7 February , 2008 Share Posted 7 February , 2008 Tesco has it (in store and on line) for £10! Roxy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Pegram Posted 7 February , 2008 Share Posted 7 February , 2008 Having read Somme Mud a few times let me say this: Get it. Read it, and read it again. Its a fantastic read. Coincidentally, Lynch ended up being a teacher at my school in the 1920s, and he was from my girlfriend's home town. Bill Gammage writes the foreword, and I recommend his book The Broken Years, which is kind of the Australian version of Winter's Death's Men. Somme Mud has not been heavily edited to suit a modern audience, so I can imagine the language of the period may be a little confusing for a UK market. If you're having problems, consult the 'Glossary of Slang and Peculiar Terms in Use in the AIF, 1921-1924'. Cheers, Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaymen Posted 8 February , 2008 Share Posted 8 February , 2008 Tesco has it (in store and on line) for £10! Roxy Thanks Roxy Was about to go with Amazon and saved a couple of quid in Tescos today. Now all I got to do is find time to read it Glyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 8 February , 2008 Share Posted 8 February , 2008 And I ordered mine from Amazon this morning on the strength of the foregoing reviews and the excellent one in the Daily Express today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick D Posted 13 February , 2008 Share Posted 13 February , 2008 got mine for £10 from in store at Tesco's they are offering free postage on purchases over £15 on their website. Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 15 February , 2008 Share Posted 15 February , 2008 Mine arrived this morning and it is a splendid read. Only off putting part was the foreword which says that the book "compares with All Quiet On The Western Front..........both are front line memoirs........" I thought it had been established that Remarque had seen little of the front line? The book itself is absorbing though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roxy Posted 15 February , 2008 Share Posted 15 February , 2008 Mrs Roxy got me a copy for Valentine's Day - good girl However, not be an avid reader of GWF, did not take advantage of her husband's suggestion to go to TESCO! Roxy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keggy65 Posted 21 February , 2008 Share Posted 21 February , 2008 Found this in Waterstones at the beginning of the week (with £4 off) having read this thread too late to get it at Tesco - that'll teach me! I've only just started reading it but, already, it's making me laugh, cry and is pulling at the heartstrings. I couldn't help but be amused at the very un-pc bits mostly because, so far anyway, they aren't used with venom, spite or in a vicious way, just in the language of the time. Having recently found a (British) relative who went to Australia and joined the AIF, saw the action and survived, it makes it personal although I believe it would be a worthy addition to any personal library in any case. Mabel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyHollinger Posted 21 February , 2008 Share Posted 21 February , 2008 Mine arrived this morning and it is a splendid read. Only off putting part was the foreword which says that the book "compares with All Quiet On The Western Front..........both are front line memoirs........" I thought it had been established that Remarque had seen little of the front line? The book itself is absorbing though. We know that now ... but then EMR was considered to be the "Raw" truth and quite sensational. I am sure they were comparing to heighten the salesworthyness of the Somme book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 21 February , 2008 Share Posted 21 February , 2008 Tesco has it (in store and on line) for £10! Roxy £8.99 at W.H.Smiths at the moment. Just got a copy this morning, but I'll be saving it for later, I think. dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick D Posted 25 February , 2008 Share Posted 25 February , 2008 This is a great book, that I can highly recommend ! Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Armstrong Custer Posted 27 February , 2008 Share Posted 27 February , 2008 Mine arrived this morning and it is a splendid read. Only off putting part was the foreword which says that the book "compares with All Quiet On The Western Front..........both are front line memoirs........" I thought it had been established that Remarque had seen little of the front line? The book itself is absorbing though. Got a copy at Tesco's on Saturday, Squirrel, and agree with you that it is a splendid read - as you say, utterly absorbing. On the AQOTWF comparison I'd just note that the author of the Foreward goes on to emphasise the novelistic aspects of AQOTWF compared to Somme Mud when he says: "there are differences between the books, Remarque wrote a memoir and a literary work. He chooses when his story begins and he has his narrator die on that quiet day in October 1918. This book [somme Mud] is a memoir based on a wartime diary and a unit history - the sense of a personal journey never leaves it." I take your point though, Squirrel, and perhaps a comparison with Junger's Storm of Steel which, like Somme Mud, was also written up from the diaries of a frontline infantryman might have been more felicitous. I agree with everyone here though, Somme Mud is a really superb late addition to the genre of Great War memoirs - perhaps the last of such quality which will surface. ciao, GAC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 29 February , 2008 Admin Share Posted 29 February , 2008 £8.99 at W.H.Smiths at the moment. Just got a copy this morning, but I'll be saving it for later, I think. dave. Not in my local Smiths sadly, they didn't have it listed on their computer when I asked. Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Armstrong Custer Posted 29 February , 2008 Share Posted 29 February , 2008 Give your nearest Tesco's a try, Michelle - they're only charging £1.01p more than WH Smiths which is still £7.99 less than the cover price. ciao, GAC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon6640 Posted 3 March , 2008 Share Posted 3 March , 2008 An excellent book, see the authors embarkation record: http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/awm8/23_62_3/pdf/0013.pdf And his return http://www.awm.gov.au/nominalrolls/ww1/pag...p;Surname=lynch Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaymen Posted 10 March , 2008 Share Posted 10 March , 2008 Well, having now read it, all I can say is.... Probably the best book of its kind I've ever read. Absolutely brilliant. A must for eveyone's book shelf. Glyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keggy65 Posted 10 March , 2008 Share Posted 10 March , 2008 Glyn Couldn't agree more. What also struck me was the fact that he could /understand/speak French. A truly remarkable man. Mabel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geraint Posted 16 March , 2008 Share Posted 16 March , 2008 An excellent personal account, of a very easily read descriptive nature. Truly recomended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Davies Posted 23 March , 2008 Share Posted 23 March , 2008 Thank you to everyone who has added comments about SOMME MUD and I am glad readers have enjoyed it. I'm currently writing a follow-up book titled, IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PRIVATE LYNCH as a contextual history for Lynch's narrative. This will be published in Australia later in the year and will place Lynch's (and the character Nulla) in a broader context of the Great War and tell something of his time after the war until his death in 1980. In writing this book, I obviously need to go back to SOMME MUD and check various things against the 45th battalion history. I'm still amazed at the details and the story and endlessly wonder how he survived. Anyway, thank you to everyone for your comments and contributions. They are most appreciated. Best, Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Armstrong Custer Posted 24 March , 2008 Share Posted 24 March , 2008 Hello Will, welcome to the Forum - nice to have the editor of 'Somme Mud' joining this discussion! Your follow up book on Edward Lynch's war and it's aftermath sounds interesting. As a film-maker are you planning a tie-in documentary with this? It also occurred to me whilst reading it that 'Somme Mud' would make an excellent basis for either a motion picture or - perhaps better - a TV mini-series - any thoughts on this? Also, in your Preface to 'Somme Mud' you note that it is an abridged version of Lynch's original manuscript, and I'd be interested to learn what sort of percentage of this original material survives in the published book? Finally, I commend you for not feeling the need to sanitise Lynch's account by editing out the attitudes and phraseology common to his era. Such politically correct editing would surely have robbed the book of the immediacy and flavour which it imparts of a time and place which was quite different to our own in many respects. Lynch and his writings were of their time, and deserve to be imparted to us in as intact a form as possible. Regards, GAC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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