Three to a Loaf: A Novel of the Great War

Three to a Loaf is the First World War story of Rory Ferrall, a young Canadian officer of Anglo-German descent who, after being wounded and disfigured at Ypres, comes to the attention of British military intelligence. Ferrall's German background is valuable to the war's planners. Hundreds of German-Americans had returned to the Fatherland to fight for the Kaiser at the outbreak of war in August 1914 and the British captured one. Cleverly trained to impersonate the captured German-American officer, Ferrall is smuggled into wartime Germany to infiltrate the German General Staff and discover their top-secret plan to break the stalemate on the Western Front.

A page-turning novel of war and espionage, Three to a Loaf is also a portrait of societies and individuals pushed to the breaking point, and in some cases, beyond. Michael Goodspeed artfully blends the tension of a thriller with period detail, the detached commentary of a nitty-gritty travelogue, and psychological understanding of a harried man facing soul-destroying ethical decisions.

A great read.didn't put it down until 1 a.m. .a full-bodied, compelling espionage thriller. Goodspeed has captured the horror of life in the mud and blood-filled trenches of World War I as only an experienced soldier with a great eye can. On top of that, he's got down pat the cultural differences in the manners, mindsets and methods of the Britons and Germans among whom his Canadian hero finds himself.

Joe Schlesinger, award-winning CBC journalist and foreign correspondent

An exciting Great War story of soldiering and spying. Goodspeed's book is almost unique for being well-written and accurate militarily.

Prof. J.L. Granatstein, author of Canada's Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace

A compelling account that is fiction in name only. Goodspeed's research and personal military experience make this fast-paced story powerful and authentic, as real for World War I as The Red Badge of Courage was for the American Civil War.

Major-General (Ret.) Lewis W. MacKenzie

This book portrays vividly the grim intensity of wartime conditions on both sides, exemplified by the black humor of the book's title: scarce loaves of bread handed out to soldiers in the trenches came with the order "Four to a loaf!"

Three to a Loaf is the page-turning drama of a young Anglo-German Canadian smuggled into Germany during the First World War to discover the Imperial General Staff's top-secret plan to break the deadlock on the Western Front.

Michael J. Goodspeed has degrees in literature, business administration and strategic studies. Currently an infantry officer in the Canadian Forces, he has lived and worked in many parts of the world. He and his wife reside in eastern Ontario.