Letters from the Western Front

In September 1914, Captain Richard Pemberton, a young doctor from London, volunteers for medical service in France, leaving behind Miss Rose Thornton, the woman he loves. As the Great War unfolds, they sustain their bond through a remarkable correspondence that spans more than a year of conflict.

Through twenty-six letters exchanged between Richard at the front and Rose working as a VAD nurse in London, their words bear witness to the transformation of a generation. Richard writes of the Christmas Truce, the horrors of gas attacks, and the impossible choices faced by military surgeons. Rose describes her growing expertise in the operating theatre and the steady stream of broken men returning from the battlefields.

Their letters chronicle not only a love story, but the profound human cost of war—the loss of dear friends, the struggle to maintain hope amid unrelenting tragedy, and the small moments of grace that remind them what they are fighting to preserve. Written in the authentic language of the period, these letters offer an intimate glimpse into the hearts and minds of those who lived through one of history's darkest chapters.