by Pat Barker
First published 2012
In the summer of 1912, siblings Toby and Elinor share a shocking secret. When Toby is declared "Missing, Believed Killed" on the battlefields of France in 1917, Elinor is determined to uncover the truth of his death. Enlisting the help of her former lover, Elinor delves into the shadows of Toby's final days, uncovering a web of lies and betrayal that stretches from the fox-holes of the Western Front to the devastated streets of wartime London. As she inches closer to the truth, Elinor must confront the full weight of her family's tragic past.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, war
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: France, London
Period: 1912, 1917
265 pages · Hardcover · Hamish Hamilton
Content warnings: death, war