Melvyn Bragg — The Soldier's Return

Sceptre 2000 Paperback, 384pp. When Sam Richardson returns in 1946 from the 'Forgotten War' in Burma to Wigton in Cumbria, he finds little has changed, as far as his own limited prospects go, but in his absence his young family has altered immensely. His wife Ellen has found a sense of self worth in her war time jobs, and their six-year-old son Joe, accustomed to his mother's undivided love, doesn't welcome the father he barely remembers. And Sam finds the traumatic scenes of Burma have changed him too, making the confines of this working class Cumbrian town stifling. The result is a family in turmoil, which reaches breaking point when Sam resolves to emigrate to Australia. Based on Bragg's own family, this taut, powerful novel sits firmly in the tradition of his hugely popular Cumbrian novels. (ISBN: 9780340751015). Good.