Of all the million British dead of the First World War, only one - the Unknown Soldier - was ever returned to his native land.

An anonymous symbol of all those lost without trace in the carnage of the battlefields, he was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey in London.

There was an outpouring of grief that brought the whole nation to a standstill, far outweighing even the emotion expressed over the death of Princess Diana more than 80 years later.

Inspired by this example, almost every combatant nation buried its own Unknown Soldier and the graves became the focus of a pilgrimage that still continues today.

Drawing on largely unpublished letters and diaries, Neil Hanson has resurrected the lives and experiences of three unknown soldiers - a Briton, a German and an American.

Every word is based on testimony of those who fought, those who died and those who mourned.

Few books have ever shown the terrible reality of warfare in such compelling, unforgettable detail, or told such a moving story of human life and loss.

Amid all their sufferings, the common humanity of the men and their loved ones shines through.

Each soldier lives on in the memory of his family to this day. They stand at the head of a ghost army three million strong, all of whom have no known grave.

“One of the best books I've read on the insanity of life in the trenches.” – Daily Mail

The Unknown Soldier by Neil Hanson is a first edition published in 2007 by Corgi, London.

It is a 4.5cm thick 668-page 13x20cm paperback in very good condition with chapter heading artwork and two sections of very interesting photographs.

It is subtitled The Story of the Missing of the Great War.

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