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In the early sixties, bored bank clerk Paul Johnson joins the elite Corps of Royal Marines, where he and Jack Mason, once a professional wrestler, become friends. They and other recruits form H Squad, a unit impressed by and proud of their drill instructor, Sergeant Francis Boswell. The self-proclaimed “finest Sergeant this man’s outfit has ever produced” gives his squad the collective name of Boswell’s Fairies, which, he commands, they must declare to the world. Nobody foresees the consequences.

Boswell’s Fairies is the story of a ten-month period of basic training. It isn’t exactly the story of Paul’s romance with a girl named Mary, or Paul’s shattered illusions about Boswell, any more than it is about his efforts to impress his father. The book is about Paul’s largely successful effort to experience two things concurrently; freedom (from banking, his class and his family) and the lack of it (the discipline is much stricter than that he previously encountered). He has devotion to a strong mentor while later having to admit his hero is not wholly admirable; he has plenty of female company while living in an all-male environment, and finds considerable fun and entertainment while facing physical hardship and learning a very serious business.

What Do Readers Say?

Paul Johnson, a bank officer in Manchester rebels against his father’s wishes and joins Her Britannic Majesty’s Corps of Royal Marines at the age of 19.

It’s 1960 and Paul finds himself with a motley group of recruits whose backgrounds are in stark contrast to his own. Sergeant Boswell is assigned to lead their Squad and his first introduction leaves you in no doubt that the reader is in for a no-nonsense ride.

“Now we’ve got you, the molly-coddling is over. When I say jump, you dinna ask how high; ya just put one-hundred-and-ten percent into it. Like it or not, you are going to be the best squad that ever passed through recruit training. If you canna make what I deem to be the acceptable grade, I will have you put back to the next squad. Hear me well. If I canna find a legitimate reason to have you back-squadded, I will beat the living shit out of you.”

The reader winces with Paul as he quickly learns the harsh realities of life when he realises his mistake right before he receives his first punishment.

“I almost laughed. Perhaps I did laugh. It was an involuntary reaction that I immediately knew was wrong, so all that escaped me was, I thought, an inaudible hiccup. Although we were already quiet, we seemed to become instantly quieter. I saw Boswell’s eyes widen. A cloud moved in front of the sun, as if to protect it. I’m sure birds stopped singing. The fearful silence seemed palpable. Only the innocent wind could be heard blowing around us.”

Paul becomes friends with ex-wrestler, Jack Mason and together they settle into the rigors of intense training to earn the coveted Green Beret with H squad, strangely nicknamed as Boswell’s Fairies. When not learning to be a marine, Paul and Jack go in search of romance, learning a lot about themselves and each other as they undergo the gruelling lessons of what it is to be a man, to love and to belong.

The writing is excellent, peppered with humour as the author takes us on a journey through England of the sixties. The language is as it should be, coarse and authentic. It made me laugh, it made me smile and it made me squirm. It’s a gripping tale of what was and now can never be in today’s world. A raw and honest portrayal of life as a marine in training. A powerfully written debut novel which takes you to another place.

– Highly recommended. S.C. Karakaltsas

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“Boswell’s Fairies” is the raucous and unapologetic tale of Paul “the Banker” Johnson’s trials and tribulations as a new recruit in the elite Corps of Royal Marines in 1960’s England. Paired up with his “oppo” Jack Mason, a former professional wrestler, the recruits find a kind of home in the tough but loyal squad of misfits and miscreants named after their drill sergeant, Boswell, all in pursuit of the coveted Green Beret. Equally coveted are the local women and their welcoming arms, which fast become Paul and Jack’s after-hours focus, until they find themselves in the exclusive company of best friends Audrey and Jill. And for the first time, they’re happy to stay there. When Boswell is charged with the murder of a gay man, the recruits’ loyalty is tested and their certainty in their cause challenged, and with the guidance of Jill and Audrey, they begin to ask difficult questions of themselves, and their ideas of honour.

Funny and irreverent, “Boswell’s Fairies” harks back to a time when the rules were clear, and the world unforgiving. 

– Nicole Hayes, author of A Shadow’s Breath, One True Thing, The Whole of My World, A Footy Girl’s Guide to the Stars of 2017 (With Alicia Sometimes), and From the Outer: Footy like you’ve never heard it (Co-edited with Alicia Sometimes)

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You won’t want to put this book down. Not a word is wasted in Boswell’s Fairies. Although a work of fiction, it reads like a true account of life in the Marines for a group of recruits training for their new career. I was enthralled by their relationships and experiences. But most of all I was taken in by the skilful writing that just wouldn’t let me go.’

– Greg Hill, co-author of Surviving Year Zero: My four years under the Khmer Rouge and Lentil as Anything: Everybody deserves a place at the table. 

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A raw and honest portrayal of life as a marine in training. A powerfully written debut novel which takes you to another time and place.a

–S.C Karakaltsas, author of Out of Nowhere and Climbing the Coconut Tree.

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Peter Lingard has written a novel about basic training in the British Marines in the sixties. But it is not the usual account. Often funny, at times politically incorrect, Lingard focuses regularly on periods of granted leave and gives an interesting insight into the minds of young recruits in their moments of reprieve.

– Stuart Reedy, publisher, Lizard Skin Press 

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I thoroughly enjoyed “Boswell’s Fairies” by Peter Lingard. Unlike most books of this ilk, Peter uses the forces as a backdrop while focusing on relationships, something that makes Lingard’s tale so eminently readable and keeps pulling you in.  It is a book I will recommend to my friends, and I can’t wait for the sequel.

– Matthew Clarkson, Melbourne

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