Clark-A_Keen-Soldier.htm

Andrew Clark
A Keen Soldier: The Execution of Second World War Private Joseph Pringle

When award-winning journalist Andrew Clark found the file on Harold Joseph Pringle, he uncovered a Canadian tragedy that had lain buried for fifty years. This extraordinary story of the last soldier to be executed by the Canadian military—likely wrongfully— gives life to the forgotten casualties of war and brings their honour home at last.

Nominee for the Governor General’s Literary Award
Finalist for the Pearson Writers’ Trust Non-fiction Prize
Finalist for the Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize

“Andrew Clark has written a heartbreaking book on the quality of mercy.
A Keen Soldier gets to the essence of modern warfare—to the faceless, pitiless bureaucracies that wage such war and convey utter disregard
for the qualities that make us human. The ‘keen soldier’ is the boy whose soul is lost in every war, no matter what his fate.”
—Jack Todd, author of The Taste of Metal

“Powerful…written in a vivid but admirably controlled style, which only serves to intensify the passion for the truth, and compassion for the soldiers, that burns through its pages.” —Toronto Star

“Clark masterfully tells the story of Pringle’s final days. . . . He does a wonderful job of putting the tragic story of this young soldier into a more complete historical context.”—The Globe and Mail

Length: 342 pp
Setting: Canada, Italy
Period: 1940s, WWII

Canadian rights, Knopf Canada

For all other rights contact The Cooke Agency.

Photo Credit: Jeff Nolte

Andrew Clark is an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker. He lives in Toronto.

Andrew Clark's website can be found at www.andrewclark.ca.

Stand and Deliver: Inside Canadian Comedy