In this story, set in the late Victorian period through World War 1 and beyond, he introduces us to the McCosh family: genial easygoing businessman Mr Hamilton McCosh, his upper-middle-class wife who attempts to uphold Victorian moral values (despite her outspoken belief that women should have the vote equally with men), and their four growing-up daughters, Rosie, Christabel, Ottilie and Sophie.
Neighbours on either side are a source of young men, Ashbridge, Sidney and Albert from the US and Daniel and Archie Pitt.
While there has been a plethora of recent material around WW1, this story is as much about the struggles of this family to deal with the aftermath.
Bernieres writes movingly of the excitement of the young men as they enlist, and the anxiety of the McCosh girls.
While we are not spared the impact of the horrendous casualty rate and the lack of drugs to fight the inevitable infections resulting from injury, the struggles of the young women are the focus.
Perhaps in sympathy as so many young men die, or are wounded, for me some energy went from the story, but on thinking about it, I suspect that it is Bernieres' skill in describing the dead weight of grief, loss and longing over the postwar period that was felt by the remaining families that also affects the reader.
Picking up the pieces and moving on is not as easy as it sounds, as the McCosh girls discover.
Despite the sadness inherent in the story, there are some positive outcomes and it is certainly a book to remain in one's mind.
• Margaret Bannister is a retired Dunedin psychotherapist and science teacher.
