Captain Tom Barnes is leading British troops in a war zone. Two boys are growing up there sharing a prized bicycle and flying kites before finding themselves separated once the soldiers appear in their countryside. On all sides of this conflict people are about to be caught up in the violence from the man who trains one boy to fight the infidel invaders to Barness family waiting for him to return home. We see them not as they see themselves but as all the objects surrounding them do: shoes and boots a helmet a trove of dollars a drone that bike weaponry a bag of fertilizer a medal a beer glass a snowflake dog tags an exploding IED and the medical implements that are subsequently employed. Anatomy of a Soldier is a moving enlightening and fiercely dramatic novel about one mans journey of survival and the experiences of those around him. Forty-five objects one unforgettable story.