Based on a collection of five years’ worth of letters from POW Roger Mortimer to his friend Peggy Dunne, Vintage Roger is edited by Roger’s son Charlie, who introduces us to his father and his war service with the British Expeditionary Force in the book’s foreword. From enjoying a relaxed way of life at Chelsea Barracks in the early 1930s, with all the fun and frolics this had to offer a young man, Roger was pitched into the realities of World War II and life as a prisoner of war, with five years of imprisonment. Charlie allows his father’s letters to do the talking and through these pages, we gain an understanding of the fear and frustrations of life as a POW, as well as the very real need for reassurance from those back at home.
RB
Little Brown, paperback, £16.99 ISBN 9781472132246