It was the war to end all wars and became one of the bloodiest and cruellest conflicts in history.

Into the hands of author Mark Scott came a poignant survivor of those nightmare years – a notebook carried through the trenches by his great grandfather, Jimmy Scott, nestled in the pocket of his uniform. In it was a list of names, written with the tiny pencil still attached to the fragile cover. With this family heirloom in his hand, the author vowed to discover the stories of these men who gave their all in the Great War. Along the way he unravelled a remarkable connection to the story of the Unknown Warrior, unearthing valuable new documents that detailed for the first time the full untold story of this event – and what happened to the bodies of those not selected for burial in Westminster Abbey in 1920 – those who, like thousands of others, are “Known Unto God.”

Reading at times like a detective story, this is the moving, often heart-breaking, account of the men whose names Jimmy Scott carefully pencilled into his little notebook.