Kingdoms Fall - The Laxenburg Message by Edward Parr

Lieutenant David Gresham is the hero of the book, and his first, somewhat unorthodox mission, is to rescue an Arab called ‘Mahammed al-Faruqi’ from behind enemy lines. The visual effect of the book is stunning and hides none of the bloody horrors of war.

This captured my interest right from the beginning because having read several World War II books, this one begins at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli and offers an exciting insight into what happened at the Battle of Gallipoli within the Ottoman Empire. To learn more about the Kingdoms Fall series and the First World War, please visit the companion website at. They are sent to Greece to prepare for the British landing at Salonika, rescue Serbian King Peter, and plot to destroy the Hapsburg dynasty in Austria-Hungary.

In the first novel of a planned three part series entitled “Kingdoms Fall: The Laxenburg Message”, David Gresham, a British Lieutenant from Manchester who has fought on the front lines at Ypres, and Captain James Wilkins, youngest son of Lord Bartlett and fresh from Eton College, are recruited into the Intelligence Service following the British landing on the Gallipoli peninsula in 1915. As David Gresham and James Wilkins pursue their missions for Great Britain, they see (and some times cause) events that shake the very foundations of Europe. The Kingdoms Fall series tells the story of the First World War from the perspective of two British officers recruited into the fledgling Secret Intelligence Service.

Kingdoms Fall - The Laxenburg Message by Edward Parr