Paul Marriner's Reviews > Frank’s bench: an historical dissertation.

Frank’s bench is described by the author as a dissertation, but this reader found it to be so much more than that. It’s a fascinating and heart warming tale of one man’s life, intermingled with internationally seismic events. The writer, Peter Thomson, uses first hand testimony, references to historical research, personal artefacts and diary, and academic sources to tell Frank’s story. Much of Frank’s story is an involving tale of day to day experience (both good and bad) as a boy, at sea (especially during the war), and afterwards in the merchant navy. But what is most interesting is the paradox of Frank’s very ‘personal’ tale against the much larger picture of war, placing him at the centre of one of the most interesting and, potentially, reputational challenging incidents I’ve come across. No spoilers here but the writer’s research in pulling the information together and presenting it in a clear, logical, and easy to follow manner is engaging and entertaining – including detailed first hand testimony.

The story then follows Frank’s years as a POW, providing vivid accounts of the hardships and horrors endured – but, throughout, we get a picture of Frank as a resilient, good humoured, fundamentally decent and hard-working man. At the end I felt it had become an honour to know him in some small way.

There is humour in the stories too – and the tale of how he had to practically beg to be let back into the POW camp after inadvertently escaping was a wonderful vignette.

I thoroughly enjoyed Frank’s bench (read easily in two evenings) and the presentation of material was excellent. There are many pictures of the artefacts which are historically fascinating and the range of photographs and documents leads me to believe that the writer has painstakingly worked hard to bring this together - it is truly a labour of love – and it is that feeling of respect for his fellow seafarers that shines through – so, yes, it could be described as a dissertation, but it is much more than that too. Congratulations to author Peter Thomson for providing such a well written, engaging and informative account of one man’s life – but a man that, in many ways, is representative of the very best of a generation.