ABOUT THE BOOK

It is 1916 and mounting casualties on the Western Front bring about conscription. But three small-town friends refuse to serve and so begins a compelling story which graphically portrays the horrors of the First World War and the harsh treatment meted out to those to whom war was an abhorrence.

Reviled by their community, Leon Marriot and his two friends are forced into the army where they are savagely treated because of their refusal to become soldiers, and Marriot seems destined to lose his girl, Anne-Marie, to local army officer Hubert Lytton.

As war rages on, the three men are separated to experience individual tragedies and with the carnage of Flanders as a backdrop, Marriot is caught up in an unequal contest between love and hate. His loyalties are distorted, beliefs torn asunder, and the truth he has always lived by is endangered. Will the horror and suffering ever cease?

Theresa Murphy was born in Portland, Dorset and is the author of twenty-six books, all published by Robert Hale. She is a member of Mensa, and her writing includes diverse subjects ranging from television comedy to nautical history. She lives in Dorchester, Dorset.