Son of War

(Paperback, Airport ed)

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The upheavals of the Second World War reverberated in the peace that followed, and many found a return to the old life more difficult than they had anticipated. Like Sam Richardson, who was determined to break free of the constraints of his background and leave Cumbria for the promised land of Australia. Yet now, a few months on, he has settled for a job in Wigton's paper factory, and believes he has put both his aspirations and his memories of fighting in Burma behind him. His wife, Ellen, begins to know better, realising how close to the brink their marriage had come. Between them their young son Joe strives to fulfil the conflicting expectations of childhood and adolescence and confronts his own demons. Crafted with potent understatement and acute insight into the twists and turns of the heart, this is a formidable successor to Melvyn Bragg's widely praised and award-winning novel, THE SOLDIER'S RETURN

Reviews

Alive with autobiographical energies and characters of flesh-and-blood immediacy ... deeply humane and acutely truthful - Peter Kemp, Sunday Times

[A] perceptive, sparely-written novel ... The trace of memory, Bragg shows us, is an enduring inheritance for each and every one of us. - Lisa Jardine, The Times

Full of a simple poetry that is deeply evocative ... with a depth of affection that is genuinely moving. A Son of War is even better than The Soldier's Return. - Carol Birch, Independent

Shot through with blazing integrity and authenticity - Val Hennessy, Daily Mail

I can't think of a contemporary novel I've read this year that I like quite so much. - D J Taylor, Spectator

A novel of remarkable power and grace ... his authenticity is astounding - Roy Hattersley, The Times

He has laid the foundations for one of the finest literary sagas of post-war Britain ... [Joe] is one of the most convincingly drawn children in recent British fiction. - David Robson, Sunday Telegraph

Often, Booker Prize judges are shockingly disparaged. Having been one myself, I think I can vouch for their honesty. But how, this year, did they fail to recognise the genius of Melvyn Bragg - Michael Foot, Observer Books of the Year

Author Bio

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, The Maid of Buttermere and The Soldier's Return, which was published to huge critical acclaim in 1999 and won the WHSmith Literary Award. He has also written several works of non-fiction including Speak for England, an oral history of the twentieth century, Rich, a biography of Richard Burton and On Giants' Shoulders, a history of science based on his BBC radio series. He was born in 1939 and educated at Wigton's Nelson Tomlinson Shool 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.