The last lady from hell

the long version

An historical novel about one of the world's darkest hours. A haunting old photograph of a bagpiper playing to a shellshocked kilted regiment inspires a Queens University student to track down the last living Canadian veteran of " The War to end all Wars". He meets the 109-year old Ian Macdonald who, as a member of a kilted bagpipe band (mockingly referred to by the German troops as The Ladies from Hell ), led Allied troops into the war's bloodiest conflict. Recounting his tale to the young student, Macdonald relives his remarkable journey leading up to and including the horrors of the Battle Somme on the Western Front. With 56,000 casualties on the first day, this battle would go down in history as Britain's worst losses in any one event.