Sword of Honour

This trilogy, published from 1952 to 1961, follows Guy Crouchback, a lonely English Catholic of an old recusant family, who joins the army at the outbreak of the Second World War hoping for a just and honourable fight. Across Men at Arms, Officers and Gentlemen, and Unconditional Surrender he serves with the Halberdiers, is posted to West Africa and the Mediterranean, and is drawn into the chaos of the Crete evacuation and later duties in the Balkans. Fellow soldiers such as Apthorpe, the brigadier Ritchie-Hook, and the charming, damaging Virginia Troy complicate his idea of service. The novels treat military muddle, clubland, and faith under wartime bureaucracy. They form one continuous war story rather than three detached plots.

Bound in plasticised cloth printed with a wrap-around colour design, and gilt spine title. Dark green gilt titled slipcase.