Soldier Dog

'He’ll always be true, faithful and brave, even to the last beat of his heart.' The heart-breaking, powerful story of a boy soldier and his messenger dog, set against the backdrop of WWI.

Stanley's dad hasn't been the same since his wife died and his eldest son went off to fight in the war. Now Stanley is either invisible to his dad or the object of one of his rages, and his only friend is his dad's prizewinning greyhound, Rocket. But one day Rocket escapes, and the result is a litter of non-thoroughbred puppies that Da says will all have to be drowned, even Stanley's favourite puppy, Solider. Stanley is so angry with his father that he runs away and enlists in the army to train as a messenger dog handler, and despite being far too young he's soon heading to France with a great Dane called Bones by his side.

As the fighting escalates and Stanley experiences the horrors of war, he comes to realise that the loyalty of his dog is the one thing he can rely on. But his father hasn't given up on him, and extraordinary circumstances will bring them together once more . . .

Sam Angus was born in Italy, grew up in France and Spain and was educated rather haphazardly in most of these countries, at many different schools. She was asked to leave at least one school. She studied English Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge where she kept a dog until he was discovered being smuggled out of college in a laundry basket. So she was summoned and asked to leave Cambridge too. Unless the dog left, in which case she might stay. She taught A level English before spending a decade in the fashion industry and now writes full time. She lives between Exmoor and London with improvident numbers of children, dogs and horses.