The Soldier's Return

When Sam Richardson returns in 1946 from the 'Forgotten War' in Burma to Wigton in Cumbria, he finds the town little changed. But the war has changed him, broadening his horizons as well as leaving him with traumatic memories. In addition, his six-year-old son now barely remembers him, and his wife has gained a sense of independence from her wartime jobs. As all three strive to adjust, the bonds of loyalty and love are stretched to breaking point in this taut, and profoundly moving novel.

“Sympathetic, touching, infinitely believable...a highly accomplished novel”

Outstandingly good...Must be one of the best English novels of the last ten years. It rings true; its characters matter...utterly credible, utterly compelling, and very enjoyable - Scotsman

[He] writes with tremendous empathy...One of the tautest and fiercest of Bragg's fictions - Independent

- Literary Review

Strong, straightforward, explicit, evocative - Daily Telegraph

A great achievement - Guardian

Reads like Lawrence...Feels like the book Bragg was born to write - Time Out

His study of a relationship between man and wife in difficulties is brilliantly convincing...A passionately moving novel - Financial Times

His masterpiece - Peter Kemp, Books of the Year, Sunday Times

Melvyn Bragg's first novel, FOR WANT OF A NAIL, was published in 1965 and since then his novels have included THE HIRED MAN, for which he won the Time/Life Silver Pen Award, WITHOUT A CITY WALL, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, CREDO and THE MAID OF BUTTERMERE. He has also written several works of non-fiction including SPEAK FOR ENGLAND, an oral history of the twentieth century, and RICH, a biography of Richard Burton. He was born in 1939 and educated at Wigton's Nelson Tomlinson School and at Oxford where he read history. He is controller of Arts at LWT and President of the National Campaign for the Arts, and in 1998 he was made a life peer. He lives in London and Cumbria.

When Sam Richardson returns in 1946 from the 'Forgotten War' in Burma to Wigton in Cumbria, he finds the town little changed. But the war has changed him, broadening his horizons as well as leaving him with traumatic memories. In addition, his six-year-old son now barely remembers him, and his wife has gained a sense of independence from her wartime jobs. As all three strive to adjust, the bonds of loyalty and love are stretched to breaking point in this taut, and profoundly moving novel.

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