“To fans of the genre of military fiction, RJ MacDonald’s A Distant Field might well be the book of the year." World War Media

“...the attention to detail sentence-for-sentence is stunning, and really builds the world while leaving the reader enough to imagine with." Cornerstones LC

"Torpedo! Starboard side!" Scots-Americans Stuart and Ross McReynolds struggle for their lives as the RMS Lusitania rapidly sinks off the Irish coast in 1915. They only survive thanks to four young Irishmen who row to their rescue. Together, with a Canadian and a young English officer, they all go on to join the Seaforth Highlanders, the remotest of all Scottish regiments in the British Army. On the way Stuart falls deeply in love with Nell, a friend of his cousin who lives in a small coastal fishing village on the east coast of Scotland.

Their initial training is hurried, and they set off for France, only to become ensnared in the Quintinshill Disaster, the worst train crash in British history, which kills or wounds hundreds of Scottish soldiers. After recuperating, they receive new orders to sail for Gallipoli, where they face their baptism of fire and must learn to fight and survive under the blazing Aegean sun against Turkish soldiers, Jihad-sworn to push them back into the sea.

“His mastery of descriptive art is reminiscent of some of John Steinbeck’s stories, and after the first chapters the reader will be inspired to finish reading the rest of the book to see how it ends." Professor Hal Elliott, Weber State University and Scots American Military Society