The war ended, but the fighting continues in quieter ways. Raymond Stornaway has spent a year in an Austrian internement camp, and when he finally returns to England, he finds a country he no longer recognizes. The streets of London swarm with soldiers and civilians alike, everyone grappling with wounds both visible and hidden. Sonia, now married to David O'Rane, attempts to build a life from the fragments of what was lost, while O'Rane carries the weight of what he witnessed in the trenches, a burden that threatens to shatter rather than strengthen their marriage. McKenna captures the raw disorientation of survival: how the men who came home were never truly able to leave the war behind, and how those waiting for them discovered that love cannot survive on memories alone. The novel poses an uncomfortable question that still resonates: what did the survivors earn the right to demand of the society they fought to preserve?
