Portrait of author Barney Campell

Barney Campbell

Events · 6 March · 6.30pm · £12
The Mainstreet Trading Company, St Boswells TD6 0AT

In conversation about his new book

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Barney grew up in the Borders and served in the British Army for six years. His previous novel, Rain, was inspired by his experiences in Afghanistan and described by The Times as ‘the best book about the experience of soldiering I’ve read since Robert Graves’s First World War classic Goodbye to All That’.

The Fires of Gallipoli is a heartbreaking, sweeping portrayal of friendship and its fragility at the very limits of humanity. 

Edward Salter is a shy, reserved lawyer whose life is transformed by the outbreak of war in 1914. On his way to fight in the Gallipoli campaign, he befriends the charming and quietly courageous Theodore Thorne who becomes the crutch Edward relies on throughout the fighting. On leave, Theo invites Edward to his parents’ idyllic estate in Northamptonshire. Here Edward meets Thorne’s sister Miranda and becomes entranced by her. 

Edward escapes the broiling, fetid charnel-house of Gallipoli to work on the staff of Lord Kitchener, but an odd coolness has descended between Edward and Theo. 

Can their friendship survive at the end of the war when everything around them is corrupted and destroyed? 

Doors open at 6pm.

This event is being held at the Mainstreet Trading Company in the barn and can only be accessed by stairs. Please read our accessibility guide for more information.