LISTEN | Full interview with historian Brandon Marriott: The Current 20:25 A soldier's letters gives an inside look at the horrors of the Great War

When Lester Harper enlisted in the army at a New Year’s Eve party in the wee hours of Jan. 1, 1916, the farmer from Pouce Coupe, in northern B.C., thought he might be home in time for harvest.

“I think he had a bit of a romanticized version of the army in the war,” said historian Brandon Marriott, author of , a book based on Harper’s letters home to his wife, Mabel.

As a teen, Harper had the time of his life on a trip to Australia with the cadets, says Marriott, plus his brother and cousin were already at the front.

“There is this idea of a sense of adventure and possibilities for travel, you see, and maybe even the fear of miss

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