In 1916, the Morlands are fully absorbed into the war. Jessie’s husband Ned is reported missing on the Western Front, and his father begins a desperate search for news. Frustrated by the limits of auxiliary nursing, Jessie goes to London to work in a military hospital, where she meets her old friend Oliver, now serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps.
Violet’s affair with the artist Octavian Laidislaw approaches public scandal as conscription expands the war’s claim on every household. The Battle of the Somme and the relentless flow of wounded make time itself feel measured by departures, casualty lists and uncertain returns. The novel shows a family and nation learning that endurance is not passive: each day demands work, restraint and the courage to continue without answers.
