Homeland

by Clare Francis (Author)

• Used

  Unabridged
  2004

  $3.36

  It is 1946, and the eve of the harshest winter for a hundred years. Servicemen are pouring home from the war to a land beset by stringent food and job shortages, and a desperate housing crisis. As anti-Polish refugee propaganda reaches its height, Wladyslaw Malinowski, a young veteran of Monte Cassino, now stranded in a resettlement camp on the Somerset Levels, attempts to start a new life on a withy farm in the middle of the wetlands.

  His taskmaster is Billy Greer, newly demobbed, and itching to escape to a job in London. Stella, the local schoolteacher, has been waiting for the return of Lyndon Hanley, a hero of the Burma Campaign. But Lyndon is troubled, elusive, and ultimately unresponsive. When he goes away again, she finds herself falling for the beguiling and irrepressible Wladyslaw.

  As the country is brought to its knees by blizzards and coal shortages, people start to go hungry and attitudes harden. Then a death occurs on the wetlands, and it seems Wladyslaw, the outsider, will be held responsible. Homeland is Clare Francis's finest achievement. Atmospheric, rich in description, it depicts with dramatic power the turbulence of a country beggared by war, and the uncertainties of the men returning to it.

• Used

  Paperback
  2013

  $3.36

  It is 1946, and the eve of the harshest winter for a hundred years. Servicemen are pouring home from the war to a Britain beset by stringent shortages and a desperate housing crisis. Anxieties are heightened by the unexpected arrival of the soldiers of the Second Polish Corps, whose refusal to go back to Poland is regarded with impatience and suspicion.

  As anti-Polish propaganda reaches its height, newly demobbed Billy Greer reluctantly agrees to take on a young Polish veteran named Wladyslaw Malinowski as a labourer on his uncle's withy farm in the heart of the Somerset wetlands.

  Stella, the local schoolteacher, has been waiting for the return of Lyndon Hanley, a hero of the Burma Campaign, but increasingly finds herself drawn to the beguiling Wladyslaw.

  As the country is brought to its knees by blizzards and hardships, the tensions of post-war life lead to mistrust, accusation and ultimately death.

  'A very fine novel indeed' Independent

  'A deeply atmospheric novel' Daily Mail

  'The characters' world envelops the reader completely' Sunday Times

  'An atmospheric, powerful, moving and dramatic tale . . . It's terrific' Bookseller