Items related to Peacetime
In 1946, into a suspicious and isolated community comes James Mercer, employed in the demolition of gun platforms. He befriends the wife and daughter of Lynch, a soldier soon to be released from the military. Lynch's return threatens violence; and in a place where nothing has changed for decades, where peacetime feels no different than wartime, Mercer finds himself powerless to prevent events quickening to their violent and unexpected conclusion.
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From the Publisher:
Robert Edric is one of Britain’s most talented and critically hailed writers; among his books are Book of Heathen, shortlisted for the WH Smith Literary Award; Winter Garden, winner of the James Tait Black Prize; A New Ice Age, shortlisted for the Guardian fiction Prize; and the widely acclaimed The Broken Lands: A Novel of Arctic Disaster.
From the Inside Flap:
A stunningly atmospheric and powerful new novel set in 1946 on the east coast of England.
Late summer 1946: the Wash on the fenland coast. Into a suspicious and isolated community comes James Mercer, until recently a captain in the Engineers, now employed in the demolition of redundant gun platforms. A relationship grows between Mercer and the wife of a soldier who is expected home very soon, and whose arrival is awaited with anxiety. Mercer also befriends Mathias, a German prisoner of war engaged in similar work who has no wish to be repatriated; and Jacob, a Jew and camp survivor. Mercer soon learns there is a bond between the German and the Jew, and is drawn further into their history as the ex-soldier finally returns and begins to re-establish his overbearing authority. In a place where nothing has changed for decades, the agents of
destruction and renewal are at work. As the summer dies, animosities flare, prejudices and enmities are burnished and the six main characters circle each other like the combatants they believe themselves to be.
In his powerful new novel, Edric captures with breathtaking economy the sense of portent and uncertainty shared by a community in the aftermath of conflict -- a community for which peacetime is hardly any different from wartime.
Late summer 1946: the Wash on the fenland coast. Into a suspicious and isolated community comes James Mercer, until recently a captain in the Engineers, now employed in the demolition of redundant gun platforms. A relationship grows between Mercer and the wife of a soldier who is expected home very soon, and whose arrival is awaited with anxiety. Mercer also befriends Mathias, a German prisoner of war engaged in similar work who has no wish to be repatriated; and Jacob, a Jew and camp survivor. Mercer soon learns there is a bond between the German and the Jew, and is drawn further into their history as the ex-soldier finally returns and begins to re-establish his overbearing authority. In a place where nothing has changed for decades, the agents of
destruction and renewal are at work. As the summer dies, animosities flare, prejudices and enmities are burnished and the six main characters circle each other like the combatants they believe themselves to be.
In his powerful new novel, Edric captures with breathtaking economy the sense of portent and uncertainty shared by a community in the aftermath of conflict -- a community for which peacetime is hardly any different from wartime.
"From the Hardcover edition.
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- PublisherBlack Swan
- Publication date2003
- ISBN 10 0552772062
- ISBN 13 9780552772068
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages384
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Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 0.57. Seller Inventory # Q-0552772062
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