Stories From the Trenches

In 1917, decorated British officer and poet Siegfried Sassoon wrote a declaration condemning the war. Instead of a court-martial, he was sent to a hospital for other "shell-shocked" officers, where he was treated by Dr. William Rivers, noted anthropologist and psychiatrist. Sassoon's complete sanity disturbs Dr. Rivers to such a point that he questions his own role in "curing" his patients, only to send them back to the slaughter of the war in France. This fictional account of actual events is the first novel in the series that also includes The Eye in the Door and The Ghost Road.

Borrow Regeneration by Pat Barker

In 1914, young Willie Dunne leaves behind Dublin and all he loves to enlist in the Allied forces and face the Germans on the Western Front. Once there, he encounters a horror of violence and gore he could not have imagined, sustaining his spirit with letters from home and the camaraderie of the Irish boys who fight and die by his side. Dimly aware of the political tensions that have grown in Ireland in his absence, Willie returns on leave to find a world split and ravaged by forces closer to home. Despite the comfort he finds with his family, he knows he must rejoin his regiment and fight until the end.

Borrow A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry

Winner of the 2021 International Book Prize, Diop's debut historical fiction novel fills a forgotten chapter in the history of the First World War, telling the story of a Senegalese man fighting as a so-called "Chocolat" soldier with the French Army. When Alfa Ndiaye is unable to commit a mercy killing of his badly injured friend, his path to redemption from this act of 'cowardice' is to sneak across No Man's Land every night to kill an enemy soldier. Initially praised by his comrades, his continued vengeance reflects his descent into madness at the Front.

Borrow At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop (from Hamilton Public Library OverDrive/Libby)

Set amid the horrors of World War I, a British officer struggles to survive the brutal life of the trenches while haunted by memories of a doomed love affair in France. Years later, his granddaughter uncovers his story, revealing the deep personal and generational scars left by the war. As typical of the "lost generation" of Britain where this novel was a best-seller, the Wraysford antihero realistically conveys what a waste—in lives and psyches—the trench experience was. A moving tale of love, loss, and endurance. 

Borrow Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

Grieving the death of his beloved older sister, nineteen-year-old Robert Ross enlists in the Canadian army during the First World War. Sent to the battlefields of France and Flanders, he confronts the horrors of trench warfare, where mud, poison gas, and relentless artillery fire threaten soldiers and animals alike. As the brutality of war pushes him to his breaking point, Robert's compassion for the horses caught in the conflict drives him to a desperate act of defiance, with tragic consequences.

Borrow The Wars by Timothy Findley

All war is hell—but for troops serving in World War I, it was the bloodiest trench warfare ever known. Generals Die in Bed is a fictional first-hand account of one young man catapulted from new recruit to walking wounded on the Western Front. From day one, he is surrounded by mud and fear. Close combat is worse: sudden frenzied scrambles with German soldiers, and bayonets that don't come out smoothly from their victims. Regular rotation takes them away from the front, and the weary combatants scramble for whatever will help them forget they'll have to go back. This harrowing spiral continues until an ill-fated hill charge...

Borrow Generals Die in Bed by Charles Yale Harrison

Set in the waning days of the First World War, this haunting novel follows Frederic Henry, an American ambulance driver serving with the Italian army. When he meets Catherine Barkley, an English nurse, their romance blossoms amid the violence and uncertainty of war. As the fighting intensifies and their love deepens, the couple faces difficult choices in their search for a life together, far from the horrors of the battlefield. Drawing on his own experiences during this time, A Farewell to Arms is one of Ernest Hemingway's best-known and most beloved literary works.

Borrow A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Through the eyes of Bourne, an ordinary British soldier fighting in the Battle of the Somme, this powerful First World War novel portrays the brutal realities of trench warfare. Pressured to become an officer, Bourne prefers to stay among the ranks and share the daily hardships of his fellow soldiers. Drawing on the author's own experience, the novel captures the terror of combat, the boredom of daily routines, and the camaraderie and rivalries among men struggling to survive. This unflinching account of war was praised by Ernest Hemingway as one of the finest novels of the First World War.

Borrow Her Privates We: The Middle Parts of Fortune by Frederic Manning from Mississauga Library OverDrive/Libby collection

In 1914, Joey, a beautiful bay-red foal with a distinctive cross on his nose, is sold to the army and thrown into the midst of the war on the Western Front. With his officer, he charges toward the enemy, witnessing the horror of the battles in France. But even in the desolation of the trenches, Joey's courage touches the soldiers around him, and he is able to find warmth and hope. Written in the animal's 'voice,' this story offers a unique perspective on the harrowing, poorly led battles of the First World War.

Borrow War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

This is the testament of Paul Baumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army during World War I. They become soldiers with youthful enthusiasm. But the world of duty, culture, and progress they had been taught breaks in pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches. Through years of vivid horror, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principle of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against one another—if only he can come out of the war alive.

Borrow All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

This was no ordinary war. This was a war to make the world safe for democracy. And if democracy was made safe, then nothing else mattered—not the millions of dead bodies, nor the thousands of ruined lives. This is no ordinary novel. This is a novel that never takes the easy way out: it is shocking, violent, terrifying, horrible, uncompromising, brutal, remorseless, and gruesome... but so is war. First published in 1939, this is the story of a young American soldier terribly maimed in World War I—he "survives" armless, legless, and faceless, but with his mind intact.

Borrow Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo

As war looms, two boarding school friends in the English countryside—Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood—grapple with their unspoken love and the pull of duty. Swept up in notions of heroism and honour, they and their classmates enlist, only to confront the brutal truth of life in the trenches. Amid loss and chaos, Gaunt and Ellwood cling to each other for comfort and meaning. A haunting, lyrical story of friendship, desire, and the devastating cost of war.

Borrow In Memoriam by Alice Winn