Charlotte's Beastly War: Family Letters 1914-1918

A box discovered in an attic contains correspondence between members of the Wyndham family penned over several decades. A family of some distinction, they are closely connected to the political and social establishment.

This book is inspired by the letters written between 1914 and 1918. The majority of them are written by, or addressed to, Charlotte Wyndham, the staunch matriarch of the family. She reveals her pride and later, her heartache. Letters from her sons, fighting on the Western Front, describe the battles and the appalling conditions in the trenches, while those from the daughters discuss their personal anxieties and changes to their social lifestyle at home. Through them we witness a scenario played out in every middle-class household throughout the country during that tumultuous period.

Charlotte's Beastly War is the intimate story of one family and how the conflict of the First World War personally affected them; written in their own words.