I am gratified to see a lot more diaries getting published, particularly those from WWI and even more so, from some of the forgotten fronts where the literature is not quite that of the Western Front. This book is no exception. Potentially, having the wartime letters of William Reed, Eng Sub-Lieutenant, RNR, who served aboard the Julnar on her ill-fated mission to relieve the Siege of Kut, would open up a new perspective on a fairly neglected aspect of the war. While the book does bring some interesting anecdotal information, unfortunately the letters home by Reed are not as informative as one may have liked. Moreover, after his capture, following the capture of the Julnar by the Turks, his coverage via letters of his capture and life in captivity does little to expand the understanding of how the Turks treated British (and allied) prisoners of war, with the exception of Reed's view that he didnt have it that bad.
Lastly, the author has chosen to do two things here that had me scratching my head: first she included many pages to the telling of ancient persian folk-stories; and secondly, attempted to reconstruct the dialogue of Reed and his companions during the journey to Kut (without really letting the reader on that this was merely a perspective vs. actual notes taken by any of the participants.. Only two and a half stars since any new information on the Meso Campaign is a good thing, even the circumscribed view from the very focused letters of Reed. ( )