Book description
The upheavals of the Second World War reverberated in the peace that
followed, and many found a return to the old life more difficult than
they had anticipated. Like Sam Richardson, who was determined to break
free of the constraints of his background and leave Cumbria for the
promised land of Australia. His wife, Ellen realises how close to the
brink their marriage had come. Between them their young son Joe strives
to fulfil the conflicting expectations of childhood and adolescence and
confronts his own demons. Crafted with potent understatement and acute
insight into the twists and turns of the heart, this is a formidable
successor to Melvyn Bragg's widely praised and award-winning novel, THE
SOLDIER'S RETURN. The upheavals of the Second World War reverberated in
the peace that followed, and many found a return to the old life more
difficult than they had anticipated. Like Sam Richardson, who was
determined to break free of the constraints of his background and leave
Cumbria for the promised land of Australia. His wife, Ellen realises how
close to the brink their marriage had come. Between them their young son
Joe strives to fulfil the conflicting expectations of childhood and
adolescence and confronts his own demons. Crafted with potent
understatement and acute insight into the twists and turns of the heart,
this is a formidable successor to Melvyn Bragg's widely praised and
award-winning novel, THE SOLDIER'S RETURN. 'A story of a now vanished
world told with deep affection by a master of his craft.' Melvyn
Bragg's first novel, FOR WANT OF A NAIL, was published in 1965 and since
then his novels have included THE HIRED MAN, for which he won the
Time/Life Silver Pen Award, WITHOUT A CITY WALL, winner of the John
Llewellyn Rhys Prize, CREDO, THE MAID OF BUTTERMERE and THE SOLDIER'S
RETURN, which was published to huge critical acclaim in 1999 and won the
WHSmith Literary Award. He has also written several works of non-fiction
including SPEAK FOR ENGLAND, an oral history of the twentieth century,
RICH, a biography of Richard Burton, ON GIANTS' SHOULDERS, a history of
science based on his BBC radio series, THE ADVENTURE OF ENGLISH, 12
BOOKS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD, IN OUR TIME and THE SOUTH BANK SHOW: FINAL
CUT. He was born in 1939 and educated at Wigton's Nelson Thomlinson
School and at Oxford where he read history. He is President of the
National Campaign for the Arts, and in 1998 he was made a life peer. He
won an Academy Fellowship at the BAFTA Television Awards in 2010.
