''Tender, evocative'' TLS
''Richly engaging'' Spectator
A Radio 4 Serial Fiction Book of the Week
''A characteristically tender novel about a young man growing up in the shadow of one war and the whispers of the next'' Observer
''A wonderful novel about relationships, particularly between a mother and son. A compelling read, beautifully crafted and sensitively written'' Irish Examiner
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Laura, a laundress, meets her young husband when they are both placed in service in Teignmouth in 1914. They have a baby, Charles, but his father returns home from the trenches a damaged man, already ill with the tuberculosis that will soon leave Laura a widow.
As a new war looms, Charles signs up for the navy as a coder. His escape from the tight, gossipy confines of Launceston to a more colourful life in action sees him blossom, as he experiences the possibility of death,
