Book summary

In Barker's many-leveled novel, a First World War veteran, old Geordie, now dying of cancer, is tortured by memories of his brother's death in the trenches, his own agonizing guilt, and his mother's misplaced grief. His grandson Nick is trying to hold his troubled extended family together. The novel weaves the past into the present, dramatically illustrating the effects of long-ago events on the ongoing story of a family.