#history

This epic memoir recounts the compelling and extraordinary tale of Sohail’s parents and grandparents, whose lives were engulfed by momentous events of the 20th century. His parents were separated by birthplace, race, faith, language and age, but their common experience of unimaginable loss and upheaval ultimately brought them together in London.

Originally conceived as a gift to the writer's grandchildren, this memoir is a compilation of recollections spanning decades. The story begins in the late 1940s. "Growing up on a West Flamborough farm in the shadow of World War II," writes the author, "rural life was hard but uncomplicated and filled with adventure."

Alice and the Machine Gunner is a blend of fact and conscientious speculation; a multi-generational account of the Geherty family based on verifiable truths acquired during years of painstaking research. Apparitions of the past are restored to life through information gleaned from civil, parish, military and personal records as well as the testimonies of the late Alice Geherty and her husband, Jack.

When Gisle and Geir come back from a day’s hunting, they find their farm devastated, their parents and farmhands killed, and the women of the farm gone, including their sisters Gunn and Ginna. Since their older brother Olof is trading goods in Friesland, they take shelter with their uncle Fridbjörn and his wife Holmdis, the skillful seer.