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Small Wars

Small Wars

Summary

Hal Treherne is a soldier on the brink of a brilliant career. Impatient to see action, his other commitment in life is to his beloved wife, Clara, and when Hal is transferred to Cyprus she and their twin daughters join him. But the island is in the heat of the emergency; the British are defending the colony against Cypriots - schoolboys and armed guerillas alike - battling for union with Greece.

Clara shares Hal's sense of duty and honour; she knows she must settle down, make the best of things, smile. But action changes Hal, and the atrocities he is drawn into take him not only further from Clara but himself, too; a betrayal that is only the first step down a dark path.

Longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction.

Reviews

  • Jones is fabulous at this, offering titbits of danger and discord while keeping a cool, matter of fact tone for the big horrors... This is, at heart, a moving love story
    Sunday Times

About the author

Sadie Jones

Sadie Jones is the critically acclaimed author of six novels. Her first, The Outcast, won the Costa First Novel Award, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, and was a Richard and Judy Number One bestseller. Her second, Small Wars, 2009, was longlisted for the Orange Prize. The Uninvited Guests, was published in 2010. Also a screenwriter, Sadie adapted The Outcast for BBC Television in 2014, directed by Iain Softley and starring George Mackay. Her fourth novel, Fallout, came out the same year, and her fifth, The Snakes in 2019. Her sixth novel, Amy and Lan, was published in July 2022.

Sadie is the daughter of the Jamaican screenwriter, novelist and poet, Evan Jones, and British actress, Joanna Jones. She was born and brought up in London, and is married to the architect, Tim Boyd.
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