Killing Time and Fighting Wars

The Junior Officers' Reading Club

Patrick Hennessey's The Junior Officers' Reading Club is a lucid, witty account of all the horror, boredom and exhilaration of war. 
 
 Patrick Hennessey is pretty much like any other member of Generation X: he spent the first half of the noughties reading books at university, going out, listening to house music and watching war films. He also, as an officer in the Grenadier guards, fought in some of the most violent combat the British army has seen in decades. 
 
 Telling the story of how a modern soldier is made, from the testosterone-heavy breeding ground of Sandhurst to the nightmare of Iraq and Afghanistan, The Junior Officers' Reading Club is already being hailed as a modern classic. 
 
 'Soldiers who can write are as rare as writers who can strip down a machinegun in 40 seconds' Christopher Hart, Sunday Times 
 
 'An extraordinary memoir ... Hennessey has a reporter's eye for detail and a soldier's nose for bullshit' John Shirley, Guardian 
 
 'High tempo, full-on, honest and revealing' Patrick Bishop, Evening Standard 
 
 'The most accomplished work of military witness to emerge from British war-fighting since 1945' Boyd Tonkin, Independent 
 
 'Remarkable ... conveys vividly what it's like to experience combat' Jeremy Paxman, Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year 
 
 Patrick Hennessey (b. 1982) joined the Army in January 2004, undertaking officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where he was awarded the Queen's Medal and commissioned into The Grenadier Guards. He served as a Platoon Commander and later Company Operations Officer from the end of 2004 to early 2009 in the Balkans, Africa, South East Asia and the Falkland Islands and on operational tours to Iraq in 2006 and Afghanistan in 2007, where he became the youngest Captain in the Army and was commended for gallantry.

Soldiers who can write are as rare as writers who can strip down a machinegun in 40 seconds, but Patrick Hennessey is one of the few

High-tempo, full-on . . . honest and revealing . . . a memoir brimming with vinegar and testosterone

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

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

William Boyd, Sunday Herald, Books of the Year

Harrowing and frequently funny . . . sparkles with wit,  wisdom and boyish glee . . . His generation owns the  war

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

Remarkable . . . conveys vividly what it's like to experience combat

Jeremy Paxman, Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year

An engaging mix of war reporting, stream of consciousness and reflections on the nature of conflict in the twenty-first century

Caroline Moorehead, Spectator, Books of the Year

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

David Cameron, Observer, Books of the Year

A vivid account of a rollercoaster tour of duty . . . testosterone-charged, expletive-splattered

A compelling read . . . Hennessey's book ought to be read by all officers that have yet to experience combat . . . He has written an important portrait of contemporary warfare and the nature of battle - a portrait that can claim a line of descent from Sassoon's Memoirs of an Infantry Officer

An honest acknowledgment of the darkness within us, of the unwelcome emotions that combat can bring about ... Smart and funny ... The Junior Officers' Reading Club is a humdinger

Patrick Hennessey was born in 1982 and educated at Berkhamsted School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read English. He joined the Army in January 2004, undertaking officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where he was awarded the Queen's Medal and commissioned into The Grenadier Guards. He served as a Platoon Commander and later Company Operations Officer from the end of 2004 to early 2009 in the Balkans, Africa, South East Asia and the Falkland Islands and on operational tours to Iraq in 2006 and Afghanistan in 2007, where he became the youngest Captain in the Army and was commended for gallantry. Patrick is currently studying to become a barrister and hopes to specialize in conflict and international humanitarian law.

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.

Patrick Hennessey

KANDAK

Select a format:

Retailers:

More books from this author