It is 1946, and the eve of the harshest winter for a hundred years. Servicemen are pouring home from the war to a Britain beset by stringent shortages and a desperate housing crisis. Anxieties are heightened by the unexpected arrival of the soldiers of the Second Polish Corps, whose refusal to go back to Poland is regarded with impatience and suspicion. As anti-Polish propaganda reaches its height, newly demobbed Billy Greer reluctantly agrees to take on a young Polish veteran named Wladyslaw Malinowski as a labourer on his uncle's withy farm in the heart of the Somerset wetlands. Stella, the local schoolteacher, has been waiting for the return of Lyndon Hanley, a hero of the Burma Campaign, but increasingly finds herself drawn to the beguiling Wladyslaw. As the country is brought to its knees by blizzards and hardships, the tensions of post-war life lead to mistrust, accusation and ultimately death. 'A very fine novel indeed' Independent 'A deeply atmospheric novel' Daily Mail 'The characters' world envelops the reader completely' Sunday Times 'An atmospheric, powerful, moving and dramatic tale ...It's terrific' Bookseller
- ISBN10 0330439421
- ISBN13 9780330439428
- Publish Date 7 November 2013 (first published 2 September 2004)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 11 March 2015
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Pan Macmillan
- Imprint Pan Books
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 384
- Language English