Farewell to Eden

"A fascinating, timely and densely pleasurable novel, written with measured and impressive intelligence and tremendous narrative aplomb" — William Boyd

"Beautifully written and deceptively deep novel of moral choice set in the aftermath of the Second World War. The characters are as utterly convincing as the story" — Antony Beevor

Farewell to Eden is a sweeping and profound novel about faith in all its forms, and a rich portrait of an embattled post-war Britain. It asks the question: how, after great suffering, do we retain our humanity, learn to love again, and believe in the promise of a better life?

Philip Deval, a soldier recently returned from the beaches of Normandy, arrives in Palestine on a peace-keeping mission in the final days of the British Mandate. The Sea of Galilee glitters in the distance as war-weary troops marvel at the novelty of oranges and sun — a paradise that belies a fierce new conflict about to erupt.

Some years later, Philip begins work teaching at a school in the English countryside and meets the enigmatic music mistress, Frances Darwood. Over long evenings spent listening to records in her music room, they grow close. But Philip is a changed man, and must confront the secrets and scars of all he has lived through — which threaten, even now, to upend his future.