Liverpool, 1939. Lonely historian Tom Baines is at work on a study of the city's architectural past but the ominous news from Europe, together with his burgeoning friendship with Richard, a young photographer, and his beautiful wife, Bella, are proving a distraction.

When the bombings begin, Tom joins up as 'rescue man', retrieving the wounded and dying from the ruins of buildings, but the love affair he embarks on soon leads him into a very different kind of danger.

Anthony Quinnwas born in Liverpool in 1964. From 1998 to 2013 he was the film critic for theIndependent. He is the author of six novels:The Rescue Man, which won the 2009 Authors Club Best First Novel Award;Half of the Human Race;The Streets, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Walter Scott Prize;Curtain Call, which was chosen for Waterstones andMail on SundayBook Clubs;Freya,a Radio 2 Book Club choice, andEureka.

In a Liverpool torn apart by the Second World War, the 'Rescue Man' takes to saving the wounded from bombed buildings. But can he stop his own life from unravelling?