A Mansion for the Spirits of the Just: A Memoir of Love, Courage and Loss in the Great War

When the man who would become Captain Francis Henry Lawless D.S.O. first left home, he was simply Frank. Frank had big ambitions of becoming a writer, and his work would indeed find new audiences-but not in the way he intended.

Frank’s granddaughter, J. C. Alexander, is determined to share his letters, journal entries, and other work with the world. Her new compilation uses primary sources and context to tell the powerful story of Frank and Hillie Gordon, the love of his life. Frank meets Hillie in London in 1913. He is head over heels but unsure whether she feels the same. He receives his answer in August 1914: when war breaks out, he immediately enlists in the King’s Liverpool Regiment, and Hillie tells him she will wait for him.

The story that follows is based on Frank’s firsthand accounts of the Great War and his courage under extreme conditions. Hillie has given Frank her heart, but forces closer to home conspire to keep them apart.

As the war rages on, Frank and Hillie are changed by their experiences. Will their love survive wartime atrocities, meddlesome schemes, and everything else the world throws their way?