A new edition of one of the bestselling and best-loved books of recent years, with a new introduction by the author.

In this delicately wrought and profoundly moving, multi-award winning novel, Andrea Levy handles the weighty themes of empire, prejudice, war and love, with a lightness of touch and a generosity of spirit that challenges and uplifts the reader.

In 1914, a room full of German schoolboys, fresh-faced and idealistic, are goaded by their schoolmaster to troop off to the 'glorious war'. With the fire and patriotism of youth, they sign up. What follows is the story of a young 'unknown soldier' experiencing the horror and disillusionment of life in the trenches.

Joe, a young American soldier in the Great War, lies helpless in hospital, so horrifically injured that he cannot communicate with the outside world. He wanders back and forth through memories, struggling to retain his sanity and find a foothold in the world all but lost to him.

It is 1941 and Captain Antonio Corelli, a young Italian officer, is posted to the Greek island of Cephallonia as part of the occupying forces. When the local doctor's daughter's letters to her fiance go unanswered, the working of the eternal triangle seems inevitable.

In this study of World War I the author presents the military conflict, the battles on land, sea and in the air, together with interpretations of military events. He also shows how the war also acted as an engine for social change which shapes our world today.