How long would you look for a missing son, even if you knew he was dead? How long could you justify such a search? Two years? Five years? A lifetime? Angela Mond’s son, a Royal Air Force pilot, had been shot down and killed, but where was his body? Francis, Angela’s hero son, had fought in 1915; he had been injured and suffered severe shell-shock, but returned voluntarily to France three years later to help stem the German spring offensive. Now, post-war, what hope had Angela of finding him, his body presumed to be amongst the legions of those with no known grave? Angela’s grief drove her to the battlefields in a seemingly hopeless search, longing also to find some semblance of personal peace. The motivation for her search transcends time; it was a desperate need for closure. But does closure really exist? Best selling author Richard van Emden tells Angela’s gripping story, exploring its wider implications and repercussions. How long would the country look for its war dead and how did the public react when that search appeared to end prematurely? France and Belgium were liberated, but did the rights of civilians to their own land conflict with the Allies’ wish to build cemeteries and memorials for the fallen??As financial austerity bit hard, how much money could be spent on the dead when the living, the survivors, needed help? Using a remarkable collection of previously unseen images, Missing is a sweeping, epic story that is as resonant and relevant today, as a hundred years ago. AUTHOR: Richard van Emden interviewed 270 veterans of the Great War, has written extensively about the soldiers’ lives, and has worked on many television documentaries, always concentrating on the human aspects of war, its challenge and its cost to the millions of men involved. Richard van Emden’s books have sold over 660,000 copies and have appeared in The Times’ bestseller chart on a number of occasions. He has also worked on more than a dozen television programmes on the Great War, including the award-winning Roses of No Man’s Land, Britain’s Boy Soldiers, A Poem for Harry, War Horse: the Real Story, Teenage Tommies with Fergal Keane and most recently, Hidden Histories: WW1’s Forgotten Photographs. He lives in London.
64 b/w illustrations