The Way Home is a novel based on the true, tragic story of one family’s destruction – the author’s family – on the killing fields of France. Constructed from letters, official documents and family albums, it follows Nora, Bertie, Ronnie, Charlie and Teddie through a story of loss, love, bravado, struggle and raw courage both in the hell of the trenches and the hushed home where four boys had grown to men.
Glasgow, 1914. It began on a surge of patriotism, Bertie, Ronnie and Teddie rushing to join their brother Charlie in uniform, all eager to play their part in the Great War. Nora Anderson watches them march off to war, left to wait and pray for her sons to come home.
It does not take long for the family to be gripped by tragedy – within days of going into the trenches Charlie disappears. No trace of him is ever found. Less than a year later Ronnie is gone too, struck down by a sniper’s bullet.
Bertie and Teddie, just 21 and a pilot in the fledgling Royal Flying Corps, survive through four long, brutal years of war, reaching the spring of 1918. Dare Nora hope her remaining sons – her eldest and beloved youngest – make it back to Scotland, back to her?
But the Great War is not done yet with the Andersons.
The Way Home is available on Kindle
Reader reviews
“A heart-breaking yet beautiful read”
“A story of courage, strength and a family’s love for each other that comes through – and that lifts my heart.”
“Captivating”
For the full story of the Anderson brothers’ war and Bertie Anderson’s Victoria Cross, including extracts of The Way Home read by the BBC’s Andrew Cotter, see here
Robin Scott-Elliot 