Joanna Trollope — The Soldier's Wife

Transworld Publishers Limited 2012 Paperback, 320pp. The 'brilliant, mesmerizing storyteller' ('The Washington Post') Joanna Trollope illuminates an experience shared by millions of people: a soldier's return to family life causes three generations of a family to struggle with the impact of war on their relationships.Dan Riley is a major in the British Army. After a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan, he is coming home to the wife and young daughters he adores. The outside world sees these reunions as a taste of heaven after months of hell. But are they? Can a man trained to fight adjust again to family and domestic life? And how will the family cope if he can't? To what extent can Alexa, Dan's wife, sacrifice her own needs and fulfillment to support his commitment to a way of life that demands everything, not just of him, but of her and the children as well? What happens when love and a vocation collide head on? With her trademark intelligence and kind, clear-eyed insight, Joanna Trollope shows us a family striving to balance duty and ambition with intimacy and understanding. (ISBN: 9780385618045). Good.