Under the shadow - Brid Hetherington

The letters of Captain Hugh Wallace Mann and Jessie Reid, safe-guarded in a small leather case until her death in 1976, form the basis of this book. The early letters reflect a lively young Scottish couple whose love is never in doubt while at the same time providing a glimpse into middle-class life in Scotland before the onset of the First World War. The letters continue to flow for the first three years of the war when Hugh serves with the Seventh Battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders at Loos and later with the Fifth Battalion at Arras and Passchendaele. Despite the brutality and loss of life at the Western Front, the welfare of the men in his charge is foremost in Hugh's mind. While Hugh longed for that 'blighty' which would send him home to his beloved Jessie, only once, following over six months fighting at Arras, does he claim to be depressed. Jessie's last letters to Hugh, returned to her after his death, and Jessie's letters to her parents from Hugh's death-bed in a military hospital in Normandy place a poignant seal to their tragic but noble story.