Max Egremont

East Prussia is no longer on any map, though it was once a thriving land, famously military, deeply forested, artistically fertile, and the birthplace of Immanuel Kant. As the scene of Stalin's 'terrible revenge' it came to embody the turbulence of the twentieth century, was carved up between Poland and the USSR after World War II - and passed abruptly into history.

Embarking on a remarkable journey through landscape and memory, Max Egremont has woven the stories of ghosts and survivors into an evocative and deeply moving meditation on identity and the passing of time.

While the First World War devastated Europe, it inspired profound poetry, words in which the atmosphere and landscape of battle are evoked perhaps more vividly than anywhere else. The poets, many of whom were killed, show not only the war’s tragedy but the hopes and disappointments of a generation of men.