Book description
Hal Treherne is a young and dedicated soldier on the brink of a
brilliant career. Impatient to see action, his other deep commitment
is to Clara, his beautiful 'red, white and blue girl', who sustains
him as he rises through the ranks.
When Hal is transferred to the Mediterranean, Clara, now his wife,
and their baby daughters join him. But Cyprus is no 'sunshine
posting', and the island is in the heat of the Emergency: the British
are defending the colony against Cypriots - schoolboys and armed
guerrillas alike - battling for enosis, union with Greece. The
skirmishes are far from glorious and operations often rough and
bloody. Still, in serving his country and leading his men, Hal has a
taste of triumph.
Clara shares his sense of duty. She must settle down, make no fuss,
smile. But action changes Hal, and Clara becomes fearful - of the
lethal tit-for-tat beyond the army base, and her increasingly distant
husband. The atrocities Hal is drawn into take him further from Clara;
a betrayal that is only part of the shocking personal crisis to come.
The prizewinning and bestselling author of The Outcast
returns with an emotionally powerful portrait of a marriage in
extremis and a world-view in question. Sadie Jones has produced a
passionate, gut-wrenching and brilliantly researched depiction of a
'small war' with devastating consequences; and in doing so, raises
important questions that resonate profoundly today.
Sadie Jones lives in London. Her first novel,
The Outcast
, was published to wide acclaim in 2008: winner of the Costa First Novel
Award, it was also shortlisted for the Orange Prize and was a Richard
and Judy Summer Reads bestseller.
