Captivating and elegant ... both a gripping mystery and an elegy for the tragedies of the Great War. 1920. The Great War has been over for two years. Following the death of his wife and baby and his experiences on the Western Front, Laurence Bartram has become something of a recluse, until a young woman he once knew persuades him back into the world. She wants him to look into events that have apparently led her brother, John Emmett, to kill himself. As Laurence starts to unravel the connections between his suicide, a group of war poets, a bitter regimental feud and a hidden love affair, more disquieting deaths are exposed.