Covenant with Death

<p><b><i>Stirringly told from the view of everyday soldiers, </i>Covenant with Death<i> is acclaimed as one of the greatest novels about war ever written. With a new foreword by Louis de Bernières, author of </i>Captain Corelli''s Mandolin</b><i><b>.</b><br></i><b><br>They joined for their country. They fought for each other.</b><br><br>When war breaks out in 1914, Mark Fenner and his Sheffield friends immediately flock to Kitchener''s call. Amid waving flags and boozy celebration, the three men - Fen, his best friend Locky and self-assured Frank, rival for the woman Fen loves - enlist as volunteers to take on the Germans and win glory.<br><br>Through ramshackle training in sodden England and a stint in arid Egypt, rebellious but brave Fen proves himself to be a natural leader, only undermined by on-going friction with Frank. Headed by terse, tough Sergeant Major Bold, this group of young men form steel-strong bonds, and yearn to face the great adventure of the Western Front.<br><br>Then, on one summer''s day in 1916, Fen and his band of brothers are sent to the Somme, and this very ordinary hero discovers what it means to fight for your life.<br><br>''Laden with knowledge yet sparely written, Covenant with Death is the work of an author immersed in the lives of those who fought''<br><i>The Times</i><br><br>''The last line ought to be carved in stone somewhere . . . Find it. Read it. You''ll be a better person for having done so''<br><i>Peter Hitchens, Daily Mail</i><br><br>An anti-war book right up there with Remarque''s <i>All Quiet on the Western Front<br>Shortlist </i>(The Greatest War Novels of all Time)<br><br>''<i>Covenant With Death . . . </i>showed with unbearable actuality what happened to a newly formed Sheffield regiment on the first day of the battle of the Somme''<br>Christopher Hitchens, <i>Guardian</i><br><br>''The blood and guts, the nightmare stink of cordite . . . appalling realism''<br><i>The Times</i><br><br>''Only one novel about the war since 1945 has the power and feeling of veracity to compare with the works of the 1920s and 30s . . . Covenant with Death by John Harris''<br>The Western Front Organisation<br><br>''A superb novel''<br><i>Daily Mirror</i><br><br>''John Harris''s neglected masterpiece of a novel, Covenant With Death, is the success that it is because it follows a group of Sheffield workers from their flag-waving sign-up to the hecatomb on the Somme''<br><i>The Atlantic</i><br><br>''True and terrible''<br><i>Observer</i><br><br>''An outstanding achievement''<br><i>Sunday Express</i></p>