Set in North Africa and Sicily at the end of the last war, this book follows the Allies' botched 'liberation' attempts as they chase the Germans north towards the Italian mainland.

"Adam Foulds writes like an angel about devilish things ... The supple, sensuous beauty of his prose is bewitching ... The pace and tension of a political thriller ... Superb novel."--Rebecca Abrams Financial Times "The pellucid elegance of Foulds's fictional voice is entirely his own. He conjures with exhilarating assurance the sense of a postwar collapse of order so complete as to be almost voluptuous." -- Jane Shilling Prospect "Astounding vivid snapshots that somehow mimic the fractured intensity of real firefight: the delicately crafted but deceptively powerful images of each staccato chapter linger and resonate. Reading this book is like remembering war ... an expertly crafted work of dark beauty and intensity." -- Patrick Hennessey The Times "Ambitious and diffuse ... Foulds is a master of concision and clarity, and his prose is "poetic" in the best sense: never florid or rambling, each short sentence weighed and parcelled out." -- Tom Gatti New Statesman "The bleakness of Foulds's message ... is not reflected in the richness of the prose or characterisation of this deep, dark, demanding tale." -- Lesley McDowell Independent on Sunday.