This is the story of a country and a year: England, 1914. One of the most momentous years in English history, it marked the point when a nation moved from an uneasy peace into full-blown war. Mark Bostridge chronicles events both ordinary and extraordinary, capturing the shifting mood of the country in towns and sleepy villages as well as on the world stage in the months before and after the guns began to boom. 'A truly gripping chronicle of the mood of a nation moving unwittingly towards catastrophe.' Financial Times 'Masterly. Bostridge clicks the camera shutter down on the sights, smells and sounds of the last scenes of peace and the first acts of battle.' Evening Standard 'Full of unexpected fascinations, a cracking story.' Sunday Times 'A moving and myth-confronting account of 1914. There are stories of a child's murder, a political love affair, a journey that inspired a classic poem, an execution of a traitor, a literary friendship, a lethal enemy attack on a beautiful seaside village. The humanity of this book intensifies the poignancy.' Juliet Nicolson, Sunday Telegraph 'An absorbing kaleidoscope of events and episodes . . . exciting and disquieting.' Guardian