From the author of the Governor General’s Award—finalist The Damned comes the riveting true story of Canadian POWs in the First World War

“The Reckoning interweaves Great War battles with grim POW life into a readable, engrossing, at times funny tale of determination, hope and bloody-minded stubbornness.” —Maclean’s

Nearly a hundred years have passed since the end of the First World War, but fascination with the conflict is never-ending. In The Reckoning, bestselling author and Governor General’s Award—nominee Nathan M. Greenfield explores life and death in the camps as well as the attempts to run for freedom. Readers are taken into the camps, where conditions were generally vile. Soldiers had little to eat but thin soup and putrid meat. Canadian men were used as slave labourers in salt mines and coal mines, and those who refused the work were beaten. Any soldiers thought to have engaged in sabotage were beaten and tortured, and some were murdered. Hundreds tried to escape using a variety of ingenious methods. Some even succeeded. These are the forgotten stories of our soldiers at war and in the camps, and of how they never gave up hope of making it out alive.

NATHAN M. GREENFIELD, PhD, is the Canadian correspondent for The Times Educational Supplement and is a contributor to Maclean’s, Canadian Geographic and The Times Literary Supplement. He is the author of The Damned, which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction; Baptism Of Fire, which was a finalist for the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction; and the widely praised The Battle Of The St. Lawrence. Greenfield lives in Ottawa.

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“[The Reckoning] interweaves Great War battles with grim POW life into a readable, engrossing, at times funny tale of determination, hope and bloody-minded stubbornness.”

<em>Maclean's</em>

“History lies in the detail, and the accomplished Nathan Greenfield provides a rich, granular helping. A subject few of us have contemplated--the punishment suffered by Canadian POWs during the Great War--becomes an engrossing read as a result. This is a good book.”

Neil Macdonald CBC News Neil Macdonald CBC News Neil Macdonald, CBC News

“Meticulously researched and vividly written, The Reckoning details the brutality and near-starvation faced by Canadian prisoners, and their bold and sometimes successful efforts to escape. An enthralling story and an invaluable addition to Canada’s First World War history.”

David Halton, author of <em>Dispatches from the Front</em>

“A timely reminder of the sacrifices Canadian soldiers have made on battlefields around the world.”

<em>Ottawa Magazine</em>

“Revelatory and compelling.”

<em>Times Literary Supplement</em>