World War I inspired hundreds of novels by British men and women who survived it. Most, even the best-sellers, are now forgotten. This book unearths the lives and works of a dozen of these writers, describing the events in the war which scarred their lives and inspired their books. Some, like Richard Aldington, author of Death of a Hero, achieved a lasting reputation, others, like Ronald Gurner, who wrote Pass Guard at Ypres, killed themselves. Over them all, the Flower of Battle, one writer's symbol for the experience of war, cast its shadow for the rest of their lives.