Long read
Peter Ho Davies's profoundly moving novel traces a perilous wartime romance while exploring the bonds of love and duty that hold us close.
In 1944, a German Jewish refugee is sent to Wales to interview Rudolf Hess; in Snowdonia, a 17-year-old girl, the daughter of a fiercely nationalistic shepherd, dreams of the bright lights of an English city; and in a nearby POW camp, a German soldier struggles to reconcile his surrender with his sense of honour. As their lives intersect, all three will come to question where they belong and where their loyalties lie.
About the Author
Peter Ho Davies was born in Coventry to Welsh and Malay-Chinese parents and lives in the US. He featured on the 2003 Granta ‘Best of Young British Novelists’ list but has written just three novels.The way in which Davies entwines nationalism and misogyny feels especially progressive. Sexual violence is just part and parcel of a bigger picture of subjugation and objectification