One Step in a Poppy Field: The Inspirational Story of Lance Corporal Cayle Royce MBE

Thousands of miles away from where her son was deployed, a powerful premonition is devastatingly confirmed by a knock on the door from two faceless strangers bearing the news that her son had stepped on an improvised explosive device in the poppy fields of Afghanistan. He had lost both of his legs and suffered multiple other injuries, including partial amputation of all the fingers of his left hand. For forty-eight days she stood at his bedside.

Not only did he survive against all odds, but in time he began to test the limits of his new capabilities and undertook the first of, what would prove to be, many physical challenges. Just eighteen months after injury, and as part of a team of four servicemen, he rowed across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.

Told mostly from a mother's perspective with contributions from Cayle, the genesis of the book was in the diary she kept while he was in a medically induced coma. It is the story of an extraordinarily brave man who has been through the agonies of rebuilding his life, with the encouragement of family and friends.

This was never meant to be another book about war or Afghanistan; it is a message of how love and hope can overcome adversity.

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Release date

Audiobook: 24 June 2025