Private McAuslan, J., the Dirtiest Soldier in the World (alias the Tartan Caliban or the Highland Division's answer to Pekin Man) demonstrates his unfitness for the service in this first volume of stories of life in a Scottish regiment. Unkempt, ungainly and unwashed... civilian readers may regard him with shocked disbelief, but a generation of ex-servicemen have already hailed him with delight as an old familiar friend. 'Written in the first person, and reading authentically, it purports to record episodes in the life of the young officer, newly commissioned into a Highland regiment after service in the ranks at the very end of the war... Twenty-five years have not dimmed Mr Fraser's recollections of those hectic days of soldiering. One takes leave of his characters with real and grateful regret'SIR BERNARD FERGUSSON, 'Sunday Times' 'It's a while since I enjoyed a book so much, and, indeed, once I'd finished it, I felt like starting it all over again'GLASGOW EVENING TIMES 'It's great fun and rings true: a Highland Fling of a book'ERIC LINKLATER… (more) |