From the moment the first machine gun rang out over the Western Front one thing was clear: mankind's military technology had wildly surpassed its medical capabilities. New weaponry enabled slaughter on an industrial scale and trench warfare led to thousands of soldiers sustaining grievous facial injuries. Here award-winning historian Lindsey Fitzharris tells the astonishing story of the pioneering surgeon Harold Gillies. After encountering the human wreckage on the front he proceeded to establish one of the world's first hospitals dedicated entirely to facial reconstruction. There he assembled a unique group of doctors nurses and artists whose task was to recreate what had been torn apart. At a time when losing a limb made a soldier a hero - but losing a face made him a monster to a society largely intolerant of disfigurement - Gillies restored not just the faces of the wounded but also their spirits.
