From a very early age she was drawing and writing stories. Imaginative, moving and brilliantly researched, Peace at Last brings together ordinary men, women and children as well as artists and writers in a novel way to help us better understand an extraordinary day in world history.Jill Murphy was born in London in 1949. “Cuthbertson combines the curiosity of the biographer and the delicacy of the literary historian to recover the life-story of a single day. It is the most complete account so far of a day that, even a century later, shows no sign of loosening its hold on our cultural memory.”-Tim Kendall, author of Modern English War Poetry “Cuthbertson is a superb biographer, and his panoramic new book gives us the biography-so to speak-of Armistice Day. The book is a delight to read: full of perceptive commentary and arresting detail.”-David Stevenson, author of With Our Backs to the Wall: Victory and Defeat in 1918 “ Peace at Last offers a fresh, vivid, and deeply researched analysis of the British experience on Armistice Day 1918. It is a fascinating read.”-Jane Potter, author of Boys in Khaki, Girls in Print: Women's Literary Responses to the Great War 1914-1918 “A timely contribution to our understanding of the First World War through the lens of its final day, Peace at Last chronicles a range of voices and experiences that have not been brought together before. “A novel and wide-ranging examination of the conclusion of the war once solemnly declared to be the one to end all wars.”- Kirkus a pleasure to read and full of fascinating tidbits.'-Brendan Simms, Wall Street Journal Peace at Last is the compelling portrait of one of the most important days in history - an exciting and inspiring moment which has, until now, remained relatively unknown.

Cuthbertson takes us from midnight to midnight - from when the Armistice was signed to the removing of black paint from streetlamps, flooding cities with light. Lawrence, Robert Graves and David Lloyd George. Drawing on news reports, literature, memoirs and letters, Cuthbertson brings to the fore the full strangeness of the day - its celebratory, wild atmosphere - and the experiences of ordinary people as well as soldiers and prominent figures like D. Upon hearing the news of the peace, crowds of people took to the streets, scaled statues, burnt effigies on bonfires and ran riot as joy and relief swept through the British population and the wider world.

But as Peace at Last reveals, the first Armistice Day in 1918 was entirely unprecedented and extraordinary. What happened on the last day of the Great War? Each year since we have marked the end of the war with tributes and remembrance, solemnity and respect.

Peace at last book