Rough Road

A privileged man's awakening through the crucible of war. "Doggie" Trevor has been wrapped in cotton wool since birth, a sheltered heir whose main concerns are dinner parties and societal trivialities. But when World War I erupts, this snobbish young dilettante discovers that commission and privilege won't protect him from the mud and blood of the trenches. After near-disastrous results as an officer, he strips away his titles and signs on as a simple Tommy, fighting, suffering, and learning alongside ordinary men. His transformation is neither sentimental nor easy; the road from Mayfair to the Western Front is genuinely rough. Through the horrors of war, he finds something real: camaraderie, purpose, and a love that challenges his assumptions about class. The novel captures a vanished world and its attitudes toward duty, class, and what it means to become a man.