Broken Lives

Go into the trenches with the Australian troops of the 9th Battalion. Follow the exploits of Lieutenant Peter Bowen and Sergeant Craig Williams during the major battles of 1917 and 1918. Then go to the streets of Paris and London and observe the impact that the Great War had on the civilian population of these great cities. Follow Sister Ann Copley as she works selflessly to nurse the casualties of war. Observe some of the changes that took place at this time regarding the relationships between men and women, as they struggled to make sense of the upheaval to their society, which was happening all around them. Empathise with Yvette, a young ‘war widow’ whose life is turned upside down, and her struggle to find companionship and to forge a future for herself.

In current times it is difficult to fully appreciate the horror of war on an industrial scale and the bewilderment felt by people living through such a war for the first time in history. This book shows how broken were the lives of those who lived through it, and some of the questioning of societal values that followed. This period of history really was what Gertrude Stein referred to as ‘The Lost Generation’.