Hal Treherne is a soldier on the brink of a brilliant career. Impatient to see action, his other commitment in life is to his beloved wife, Clara, and when Hal is transferred to Cyprus she and their twin daughters join him. But the island is in the heat of the emergency; the British are defending the colony against Cypriots - schoolboys and armed guerillas alike - battling for union with Greece.

Clara shares Hal's sense of duty and honour; she knows she must settle down, make the best of things, smile. But action changes Hal, and the atrocities he is drawn into take him not only further from Clara but himself, too; a betrayal that is only the first step down a dark path.

Longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction.

Sadie Jones lives in London. Her first novel,The Outcastwas published to wide acclaim in 2008; winner of the Costa First Novel Award, it was also shortlisted for the Orange Prize and was a Richard and Judy Summer Reads Number One bestseller. Her second novel,Small Warswas longlisted for the Orange Prize and her latest novel,The Uninvited Guestshas garnered much critical acclaim.