A deeply compelling and poignant story about the tragic lessons of war and the endurance of memory. In the last months of World War II, a man wakes in a field in a country he does not know. Injured and with only flashes of memory coming back to him, he pulls himself to his feet and starts to walk, setting out on an extraordinary journey in search of his home, his past, and himself. His name is Owen. A war he has only a vague recollection of joining is in its dying days, and as he tries to get back to England, he becomes caught up in the flood of rootless people pouring through Europe. Among them is a teenage boy, and together they form an unlikely alliance ..

Accomplished, resonant and surprising (Guardian ) -- a debut for fans of Summer of My German Soldier. In July 1940, eleven-year-old Lydia escapes life as a child evacuee in Wales. She arrives home to her English village, gas mask in tow, only to find it abandoned. Her family's house is shuttered and empty. Lydia settles in though, determined to wait out the war. Later that night he arrives: a wounded soldier, gun-wielding, heralding a full-blown German invasion. He says he won't hurt Lydia, but she cannot leave the house. The unlikely pair coexists in their claustrophobic confines, becoming dependent on each other for survival. Lydia soon realizes that th ..