The Junior Officers' Reading Club

Killing Time and Fighting Wars

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The Junior Officers' Reading Club

By: Patrick Hennessey

Narrated by: Patrick Hennessey

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About this listen

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Patrick Hennessey's compelling account of life as a British soldier, The Junior Officers' Reading Club, read with charm and wit by the author himself.

Patrick Hennessey is a graduate in his 20s. He reads Graham Greene, listens to early-90s house on his iPod and watches Vietnam movies. He has also, as an officer in the Grenadier Guards, fought in some of the most violent combat the British army has seen in a generation.

This is the story of how a modern soldier is made, from the testosterone-heavy breeding ground of Sandhurst to the nightmare of Iraq and Afghanistan. Showing war in all its terror, boredom and exhilaration, The Junior Officers' Reading Club is already being hailed as a modern classic.

Military

War

Inspiring

Thought-Provoking

Witty

Funny

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Critic reviews

A very fine book, a powerful dispatch from the front line ... what impresses is the sheer candour and immediacy

The military memoir of the moment

An extraordinary memoir . . . Hennessey has a reporter's eye for detail and a soldier's nose for bullshitAn extraordinary memoir . . . Hennessey has a reporter's eye for detail and a soldier's nose for bullshit

All politicians need to read honest accounts of war - at no time more than now - and Patrick Hennessey's The Junior Officers' Reading Club is one of the very best

Must rank as the most accomplished work of military witness to emerge from British war-fighting since 1945

Outstanding . . . A classic of its kind

Most relevant

An insightful journey into a British officers experience in a recent conflict. Hennessy pays tribute to the men and women who serve in the military whilst also paying homage to the people of Afghanistan. For me, the tragedy of the conflict manifests itself threefold when discussing loved ones of the fallen, the complexity of the boots on the ground and the plight of the Afghan who is left to pick up the peaces of his war torn country.

Highly recommend.