Winston and Me
Winston and Me
Mark Woodburn
Paperback
The story of a teenage soldier serving at Winston Churchill’s side, in the trenches of WW1 Flanders and beyond. Second edition, published in 2018, revised to include newly-discovered historical detail.
Lying about his age to join the army, Edinburgh teenager Jamie Melville comes to the attention of his battalion’s new colonel, Winston Churchill, who is seeking redemption in the trenches as an ordinary soldier after his resignation over the Dardanelles fiasco in 1915. Jamie becomes the colonel’s new ‘batman’ and is soon thrust into the line of fire.
After the conflict, Churchill returns to the cabinet and Jamie’s service continues as assistant to Winston’s private secretary. In this new world, he will learn how to do battle on a very different front, and meet some of the extraordinary characters who inhabit wartime London – all whilst trying to piece together his broken family, and fighting for a life he can call his own.
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Imprint: Valley Press
Published: December 2018 (Second edition)
ISBN: 9781912436156
Catalogue no: VP0135
Page count: 274
Trim size: 203 x 133 mm
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Praise for Winston and Me:
“Woodburn offers an excellent portrayal of Churchill ... a novel not to be missed.”
— Finest Hour magazine
“An outstanding book ... Memorable, eminently readable, and thoroughly enjoyable.”
— Undiscovered Scotland
About the author
Mark Woodburn was born in Edinburgh, 1968, and grew up in Scotland, Canada and South Africa. His colourful employment history includes work in forestry, pet food, ladies' fashion, risk analysis and as a part-time soldier in the Royal Corps of Transport. He currently lives in West Lothian, with his wife and daughter, and is a season ticket holder at Heart of Midlothian Football Club.
Mark's first novel Winston and Me, originally published in 2012, was the first unsolicited fiction submission to be taken on by Valley Press. A second edition, revised to include newly-discovered historical detail, was published in 2018. A sequel, The Finest Years and Me, featuring the same characters reunited in World War Two, was published in 2015.