The Same Country

THE SAME COUNTRY

A Novel

From the bestselling author of Tales from the Tail and The Fearless Fifteen comes an unforgettable story of love, friendship and the loss of innocence in the First World War.

August 1914.

Lieutenant Rupert Drummond rides out with the Blackmore Vale Hunt across the rolling hills and vales of Dorset, believing that the England he loves will still be waiting when he returns.

Within days he is serving with the Royal Horse Guards in Belgium, where the optimism of the 'war to end all wars' is swept away by the devastating realities of Mons, the Great Retreat, Loos, the Somme, Arras and Passchendaele.

Behind him lies Elizabeth Ashcombe, the woman he loves but has never dared to tell. Beside him rides Charles Stanier, his closest friend—a brilliant cavalry officer admired by everyone, yet burdened by a secret that slowly threatens to destroy him. Together they witness the end of an age as courage is tested, friendships are forged in battle and lives are changed forever.

While the guns thunder across Flanders, those left behind in Dorset fight battles of their own. Families endure unimaginable loss, women take on new responsibilities, and a peaceful rural England begins to disappear forever.

When Rupert finally returns home in 1918, he discovers that survival is only the beginning. The country he longed to return to no longer exists, and neither does the man who left it.

Powerful, moving and meticulously researched, The Same Country is an epic story of love, duty, sacrifice and the invisible wounds of war.

Perfect for readers of Birdsong, Regeneration, All Quiet on the Western Front and anyone who enjoys richly atmospheric historical fiction grounded in real events.