Stolen Marches - Tapa dura

`A fine enough evocation of the awful, bloody muddle of postwar affairs' Observer

'An ambitious...historical thriller, which vividly describes the end of the war' Independent on Sunday

'Crackenthorpe...weaves a complicated plotline around his romantic hero...but his laconic prose sidesteps both sentimentality and derring-do' Guardian

'ambitious...thriller, which vividly describes the end of the war' The Times

'...a thoughtful and evocative reminder of how the mid-century upheaval of the war still casts a dark, foreboding shadow over France...Crackanthorpe's first novel, Stolen Marches, stood critical comparison with Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong; this might be compared with Charlotte Gray, and should appeal to the same market.' The Bookseller

'The morally and politically ambiguous world of post-Liberation France provides a gripping backdrop for Mr Crackanthorpe's first book.' Yorkshire Evening Press

'a relish for the colourful, telling piece of detail, some sharp characterisation...a refusal to prettify or simplify events and their effects and, at the same time, a respect for a good story and a well-orchestrated plot...a thoughtful, ambiguous and unshowy reprise about the way humans behave after a great watershed in history.' The Times

'Crackanthorpe utillises the chaotic backgorund of newly liberated France in 1945 to dazzling effect' The Times

'despite the immaculate quality in the writing, the action is neither plotty nor ploddy...Everywhere, the prose keeps up a continous murmur of threat and risk. All France is here, and treachery, love, self-sacrifice, accident and ambition tighten the story's tensions. This is the thriller of the year so far; the thinking man's Jack Higgins' Mail on Sunday

'a strong debut...reminiscent of Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong' Daily Mail

Set amidst the moral and political chaos of newly liberated France in 1945, this is an extraordinary novel of love, betrayal and sacrifice. As a student in France under the German occupation, Stephen Seagrave risked his life for the Resistance. But with the German defeat come dangers of another but no less frightening kind as he searches for the Gypsy whore he tried to save from the camps. His only weapon is a compromising photograph of a collaborator, now a powerful man in the new government, whom he must blackmail into helping him. But such a dangerous game will lead him into a deadly labyrinth of deceptions and betrayals where it is no longer possible to tell friend from foe.