ONE of Ilkley's most prolific authors has brought out a new book about the First World War.

In the run up to Remembrance Day on November 11, Neil Hanson tells the story of three of the unknown soldiers whose plight touched the hearts of nations.

Of all the million British dead of the First World War only one, the unknown soldier - was ever returned to his native land to become an anonymous symbol of all those lost without trace in the carnage of the battlefields.

He was laid to rest among the nation's most illustrious in Westminster Abbey amid an outpouring of grief which brought the whole country to a standstill and is still celebrated today.

Inspired by this example, nearly every combatant nation buried its own unknown soldier and the graves became the focus of a pilgrimage which still continues.

Drawing on largely unpublished letters and diaries, Neil Hanson has resurrected the lives and experiences of three unknown soldiers - a Briton, a German and an American. Nothing in the story is invented or exaggerated; every word is based on the testimony of those who fought, those who died and those who mourned at home.

The rare insight into these three soldiers' lives reveals the great war in all its horror and tragedy. Amid all their sufferings, the common humanity of the men and their loved ones shines through. Each soldier lives on in the memory of his family to this day.

The three soldiers stand at the head of a ghost army three million strong, all of whom have no known grave. Their story is the story of The Unknown Soldier.

As well as having a long and prolific career as a ghost writer, Neil Hanson is the author of three previous acclaimed works of historical narrative: The Custom of the Sea, the Dreadful Judgement and the Confident Hope of a Miracle.

l The Unknown Soldier by Neil Hanson, is published by Doubleday on November 10, priced £20.