Very English Hero

An untold story of love, idealism and courage in the Second World War

''A very moving account of the all-too-brief life of a warrior-poet'' Antony Beevor, author of Stalingrad

''An elegy for a lost generation, and a fascinating social and political history of a peculiar period in our recent past ... it''s impossible to put down Conradi''s impressive and moving account of Thompson''s life without a feeling of regret.'' Mail on Sunday

Modest, handsome and a fine poet, eccentric Englishman Frank Thompson made an unlikely soldier.

Brother of E. P. Thompson and lover of Iris Murdoch, Frank was an intellectual idealist, a rare combination of brilliant mind and enormous heart. Of his wartime experiences, Frank wrote prodigiously. His letters, diaries and poetry still read fresh and intimate today - and it is from these that Peter J. Conradi brings vividly to life a brilliantly attractive and courageous personality.

Aged just twenty-three, Frank was captured, tortured and executed in Bulgaria. A soldier of principle and integrity, he fought a poet''s war; a very English hero from a very different era.