Death Of A Soldier: A Mother's Story First Edition

I was incredibly moved by the beautiful book, Death of A Soldier. It left me not only with an understanding of the kind of man Mark was but also a deeper understanding of what is going on in Afghanistan. I thought the whole thing was beautifully conveyed and balanced – at times it read with the pace and grip of a thriller; at others it moved me to tears. –Elizabeth Day, novelist and feature writer for the Observer

Of all the epitaphs that will be written about our presence in Afghanistan, this may turn out to be the most damning of all — John Preston, The Spectator

One of the remarkable aspects of this…hard hitting book is that Margaret Evison has created such a vivid portrait of her son Mark, 26, who was fatally wounded on active duty in Helmand province in 2009 –Simon Griffith, Mail on Sunday

The book is a tribute to a much loved and much mourned son, but it is more than that. It is a study of a short life in which much was accomplished. It is an insight into loss, to personal grief and unbearable sadness, leavened with the love and pride that a mother has for her child. Not an easy read in some ways, yet beautifully written. One can feel the pain and also the pride that Mrs Evison has in her son. It is a powerful book, an important episode in the debate on Afghanistan, on a personal level rather than the impersonal and anodyne strategic or political level. If it helps to enable people to understand war deaths then it is a most valuable book. 5 Helmets –John Corr, Army Rumour Service

A book that everyone should read… A Mother’s Story is a book that needed to be written… Margaret Evison’s spare, elegant writing style captures the very essence of her son’s life… Never prejudiced or bitter; it shows remarkable poise and balance to the final page… This book serves as a tribute to her son and a celebration of a life in full flight with all its hope, potential and optimism. –Australian Times

A truly gripping and exceptionally well-written story of incredible bravery, tragedy, bungling, dishonesty, and magnanimity. –Prof R Jones, British Journal of General Practice.

Margaret Evison’s love, grief and dignified rage shine from the book but they do not detract from the presentation of facts. Or from the notable absence of some key facts. And Mark’s inquest was not an assault on the military. In fact, it was the inquest’s surprisingly banal conclusions that drove Mrs Evison to write the book. –Dermot Rooney, BAR

Margaret Evison writes affectingly and elegantly about the swirl of emotions and memories she felt as she saw her son go off to war and first received the news that he had been shot, as well as the limbo of uncertainty and anxiety that followed, and the human drama in Selly Oak Hospital as the family had to let go and Mark’s life-support machines were switched off… The fact that Margaret Evison could write this very accessible account, and that she was also able to find a way to visit Afghanistan to see for herself the country in which her son died, marks her out as a rare individual. –Nick Childs, Rusi Journal

There is a range to this book that is alone distinguishing. Margaret Evison, the mother, delivers the intimate close up of the devastating loss of her son. Evison the clinical psychologist also manages to stand back and offer a more professional perspective on the struggle with grief and reconciliation. As well, a gifted writer intervenes to make sense of a story as remote and imposing as the Hindu Kush. –Chris Masters, Australia DLR

Margaret Evison’s love, grief and dignified rage shine from the book but they do not detract from the presentation of facts. Or from the notable absence of some key facts. And Mark’s inquest was not an assault on the military. In fact, it was the inquest’s surprisingly banal conclusions that drove Mrs Evison to write the book. –Dermot Rooney, BAR

Margaret Evison writes affectingly and elegantly about the swirl of emotions and memories she felt as she saw her son go off to war and first received the news that he had been shot, as well as the limbo of uncertainty and anxiety that followed, and the human drama in Selly Oak Hospital as the family had to let go and Mark’s life-support machines were switched off… The fact that Margaret Evison could write this very accessible account, and that she was also able to find a way to visit Afghanistan to see for herself the country in which her son died, marks her out as a rare individual. –Nick Childs, Rusi Journal

In Death of a Soldier, Margaret Evison invokes Wilfred Owen’s famous poem Dulce et Decorum Est . Experience has brought her to the same conclusion; the proposition that it is sweet and right to die for one’s country is indeed the old lie … Please read this book. –Chris Masters, Australia DLR