The First World War
Adventures in Time
Chosen as Children's Book of the Week and as a Children's Book of the Year in the Sunday Times, and Book of the Month in History Revealed.
The First World War is the fourth in my Adventures in Time series, and in many ways was the most exciting to write. It's a colossal, epic tale, telling the story of the war from the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in the summer of 1914 to the moment the guns fell silent on the Western Front on 11 November 1918.
We often remember the First World War as a muddy, bloody, tragic waste, and in many ways it was. But purely as a story, it could hardly be bettered. The cast of characters includes everybody from Kaiser Wilhelm II, Edith Cavell, Rasputin and the Red Baron to Wilfred Owen, T. E. Lawrence and J. R. R. Tolkien.
There are some breathtakingly dramatic moments: the German attack on Scarborough, the sinking of the Lusitania, the first day of the Somme and the outbreak of the Russian Revolution. There are Sikhs and Cossacks, dashing air aces and footballing Tommies.
And at its heart, as in all the Adventures in Time, are the stories of ordinary people themselves: teenage heroines and plucky Boy Scouts, plunged into a clash of empires that would change the course of history for ever.
Publisher Notes
Take a journey to a vanished world with the ADVENTURES IN TIME series - stories so exciting you won't believe they're all true!
'The whistles blew, the cheers went up, and thousands of men were scrambling up into the rolling fields of No Man's Land . . .'
Travel back in time to The First World War, as historian Dominic Sandbrook takes us from the soaring heights of an aeroplane cockpit to the desperate depths of the enemy trenches. We are plunged first hand into a conflict like no other as, amid the greatest clash of empires ever known, the future of the world hangs in the balance . . .
The Adventures in Time series brings the past alive for twenty-first century children. These stories are every bit as exciting as those of Harry Potter or Matilda Wormwood. The only difference is they actually happened . . .
Reviews
"Few plots can rival the real-life dramas played out in the superb Adventures in Time series by the historian Dominic Sandbrook, one of the most exciting new voices in children's non-fiction"
Books of the Year, Daily Telegraph
"Compelling and vivid ... this memorable chronicle never loses sight of the terrible pointlessness of the conflict"
Children's Book of the Week, Sunday Times
"History and fiction meld in a spectacular new series retelling thrilling tales from past eras, all with the benefit of the latest research."
Books of the Year, Financial Times
"The Adventures in Time series offers accessible retellings of key moments in history for a younger audience (and, no doubt, older readers too). This instalment distils the complexities of World War I into a succinct, vivid account, which never loses sight of either the heroism or the horrors."
Book of the Month, History Revealed