They were truly halcyon days for Sherston, made all the more precious for the fact that they are soon to disappear for ever. It's a picture of the Edwardian world caught in aspic just before it fades - the troubles of the young George Sherston, standing in for Sassoon, are no more dire than finding good horseflesh, a well-made pair of riding boots, and enough money to hunt each season - something he can only manage by going into debt when he moves to a more toffy part of the country with his local Master of Hunt as a kind of assistant, and must hide the fact that although well educated, his yearly income is smaller than your average well-bred chappie.

In essence, the privileged life narrated in the first part of this book is thrown into stark relief as the horrors of life in the trenches is described in equally vivid detail. Then, with a gradual gesture of acquiescence, it lolls sideways, falling over into the attitude of a swimmer on his side. From Nobel Laureates Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter to theatre greats Tom Stoppard and Alan Bennett to rising stars Polly Stenham and Florian Zeller, Faber Drama presents the very best theatre has to offer. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.There are beautiful passages on the English countryside and the reader surfs pleasantly throughout though each turn of the page harbors the dark anticipation of what is about to happen.

This is the first of Siegfried Sassoon’s trilogy relating to the First World War; part of my reading for the anniversary this year. The fact that we have followed Sherston's whole life makes the war so much more shocking than if the book had begun in 1914. The book was originally published anonymously, in September 1928, with the authors' name added part-way through the printing of the second impression (after first 500 copies). Sassoon portrays the idyllic life of a well born Englishman with a private income and a love of country pursuits.The novel ends at the beginning of Sherston’s time in the trenches, when the horror of it all was becoming clear. I have never read much about hunting but Siegfried Sassoon gets across how he developed his enthusiasm; the love of the horses, his pleasure in the English countryside, the companionship and the many and various hunting characters are all set out. At one point Sassoon refers to the war as a “crime against humanity”, quite a modern turn of phrase. Sassoon doesn't hold back from describing the impact of the war and the contrast between his life as a soldier and the convivial hunt gatherings from before the war. Paul Fussell explains that Sassoon's life was in some substantial ways different from what is depicted here.