Alone at La Lys (Paperback)

Paperback. Alone at La Lys is an epic story of war, courage, sacrifice, love and survival, inspired by the real extraordinary story of a Portuguese soldier whose actions during the First World War became legendary.It is the story of an ordinary man who never expected to become a hero, a husband separated from the woman he loved, a father longing to return to the child born while he was away, and a soldier who discovered that courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision to remain when every instinct tells you to run.From a remote Portuguese village to the trenches of Flanders and the terror of La Lys, this is the journey of a man who risked everything for others and discovered that the greatest battle of all might be waiting at home.He marries Leonor. Their happiness is simple and precious, and they begin to dream of a life together. But Europe is moving towards catastrophe, and decisions made in distant capitals are about to reach even the poorest villages of Portugal.When war comes, Mateu is called to serve. Leaving behind his young wife and unborn child, he is sent to France, where nothing has prepared him for the Western Front.Beneath the grey skies of Flanders, Mateu enters a world of mud, cold and constant danger, where artillery tears apart the earth, machine guns kill in seconds, and hunger, exhaustion and fear become part of everyday life.Then, in April 1918, comes the German offensive.The Battle of La Lys becomes one of the darkest days in the history of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps. The enemy attacks with overwhelming force, artillery pounds the Allied positions, and the battlefield disappears beneath smoke, fire and chaos.In the confusion, Mateu faces a choice that will change his life forever.He can retreat, or he can remain.With his Lewis gun beside him and the enemy advancing through the smoke, Mateu chooses to stand his ground, buying precious time for other men to escape. Surrounded by the wounded and the dead, he fights not for glory, but because someone must remain while others reach safety.But the battle is only the beginning.Separated from his comrades, Mateu spends three desperate days behind German lines, hungry, exhausted and uncertain of where the Allied positions lie. During his struggle to survive, he encounters a wounded British major who has also been cut off from his men.Mateu speaks no English, and the officer speaks no Portuguese.He can leave the wounded man behind and increase his own chances of survival, or risk everything to save a man with whom he cannot even speak with. Once again, Mateu refuses to abandon another human being.His courage brings him the highest honours from Portugal, which award him the Military Order of the Tower and Sword of Valour, Loyalty and Merit, Portugal's highest military distinction. The Belgians awarded him the Gold Medal of the Order of Leopold II and the French the Legion D'Honneur. His name is celebrated, medals are placed upon his chest, and his deeds become an example of Portuguese courage.He returns to Portugal a national hero. But medals cannot feed a family, and fame cannot make the crops grow. From the fall of the Portuguese monarchy to the birth of the republic, from a quiet village to the terror of the Western Front, this is the story of love, war, sacrifice and survival, and of an ordinary man who became a hero because, when others needed him, he refused to walk away. But when the war ends, the medals remain while the applause fades.Returning home to Leonor and the child he has longed to see, Mateu discovers that fame cannot feed a family and courage cannot make the crops grow. Eventually, he faces another painful separation when he leaves Portugal for Brazil in search of a better life, which starts an Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…