It will be better face to face,' Gus told her, 'I hope they learn to love you.' Realism was acquired - very much as Krista had acquired the thick overcoat she had stolen during the coldest winter on record. 'I think people more often want to kill each other than to love.' Reaching for his cigarettes lying on the seat next to him, Gus lit up. 'Perhaps.' What was she doing with this man? She didn't know him. He didn't know her. In that moment, she understood that war's imprint was with her forever. As the Second World War draws to a close, Gus Clifton, feared lost in Germany, surprises his sisters at their family home. But an even greater shock is the woman he brings home, Krista - the German wife whom he has married secretly in Berlin. Gus's sisters can only see the enemy their brother has brought under their roof. And their friend Nella, Gus's beautiful, loyal fiancUe, cannot understand what made Gus change his mind about their marriage. What hold does Krista have over their honourable and upright Gus? And how can the three women get her out of their home, their future, their England?

Author Biography

Elizabeth Buchan's previous novels include Light of the Moon, the prize-winning Consider the Lily, The New York Times bestsellerRevenge of the Middle-Aged Woman, and her most recent book,Daughters. As well as her novels, Elizabeth's short stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and published in a range of magazines. Elizabeth reviews for the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail and is a patron of the Guildford Book Festival and of the National Academy of Writing. She has chaired the Betty Trask and Desmond Elliott literary prizes, has been a judge for the Costa awards, and she sits on the authors' committee for the Reading Agency. She lives in London.