Field Service - Tapa dura

"There has been a slew of novels commemorating the First World War’s anniversaries. Field Service will be judged one of the best." (John Sutherland The Times)

"A masterly analyst of human behaviour....Carefully nuanced and engaging...Puts the work of most other historical novelists in the shade" (Nick Rennison Sunday Times)

"I found this deeply moving; a fine tribute to the early work of the War Graves Commission, which I’ll never take for granted again" (Saga)

Morlancourt, Northern France, 1920

In the aftermath of the bloodiest conflict the world has ever seen, a small contingent of battle-worn soldiers remains in Northern France. Captain James Reid and his compatriots are tasked with the identification and burial of innumerable corpses as they assimilate the events of the past four years.

The stark contrast between the realities of burying men in France and the reports of honouring the dead back in Britain is all too clear. But it is only when the daily routine is interrupted by a visit from two women, both seeking solace from their grief, that the men are forced to acknowledge the part they too have played.

With his trademark unerring precision and lacerating honesty, Robert Edric explores the emotional hinterland which lies behind the work done by the War Graves Commission in the wake of the First World War.