Author Description

In 1916, four university students unearth century-old letters in a derelict property adjoining their student-let terrace house. The letters and poems written by Tom, a British soldier, to his wife Maggie chart his mental deterioration as he travels through France to the horrors of trench warfare. During a battle Tom, obeying orders, kills Ernst Roth, a German prisoner. Stricken with guilt and grief, Tom seeks succour with Estelle, a teacher he has befriended in the village where his battalion is billeted. Reading the letters, the students realise each of their lives are connected to the consequences of this war crime. It soon becomes clear to Ben, Amy, Ethan, and Josh that they have been brought together for a purpose. During their journey of self-discovery family secrets will be spilled, mysteries unraveled, and redemption earned when, at Thiepval on the day of Samhain, they meet the lost souls of the missing.