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Winner of the Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year 2019 this is a 'propulsive, beautifully written investigation into atrocity, guilt and new beginnings.' - Justine Jordan. One rainswept winter's night in 1809, an unconscious man is carried into a house in Somerset. He is Captain John Lacroix, home from Britain's disastrous campaign against Napoleon's forces in Spain. Gradually he recovers his health, but not his peace of mind. He will not and cannot talk about the war or face the memory of what took place on the retreat to Corunna. After the command comes to return to his regiment, Lacroix sets out instead for the Hebrides, unaware that he has far worse to fear than being dragged back to the army - a vicious English corporal and a Spanish officer with secret orders are on his trail, and for him, freedom will come at a high price. In luminous prose, the author portrays a man shattered by what he has witnessed, on a journey that leads to unexpected friendships, even to love. A deeply involving novel, part pastoral comedy and passionate romance story, alternating with a blackly menacing thriller about male violence, the impact of war and the price of freedom. 422pp, paperback.