By 1915, the first enthusiasm for war has faded into determination and anxiety. Ned is sent to the Western Front ahead of his battalion, and Jessie becomes an auxiliary nurse, discovering that hospital work is harder and more intimate than her charitable experience suggested. Helen and Jack establish a home of their own, while Violet’s meeting with a gifted young artist threatens the order of her London life.
The Battle of Loos places Ned and Bertie in command as their men prepare to go over the top. At home, the family can do little but work and wait. The novel contrasts the cultivated ‘roses’ of pre-war life with industrial battle, showing how military stalemate, nursing and emotional infidelity all test the roles through which the Morlands once understood duty.
