January 1 1916: Europe is bleeding to death as the corpses rot from Poland to Gallipoli in the cruel grip of the Great War...

Heart of War follows the fate and fortunes of the Rowland family and those people bound up in their lives: the Cate squirearchy, the Strattons who manage the Rowland owned factory, and the humble, multi-talented Gorse family. In this all-consuming conflict, not a single family will remain untouched. With Quentin and Boy Rowland fighting in the trenches and Guy flying the skies above, it would be a miracle for the whole family to come home untouched...

During the years 1916 and 1917, the appalling slaughter of the Somme and Passchendaele cuts deep into the hearts of British people as military conscription looms over Britain for the first time in a thousand years. As babies are born, fathers, sons and brothers killed, and women strike out in the work-place, Britain looks to never be the same again.


First published in 1980 – book two in a three volume saga including Now, God be Thanked, and By The Green of Spring ­– Heart of War explores the emotional turmoil of Britain at war from every angle: from the eyes of the upper class aristocracy who are losing their grip on power, to the lower classes rising up as they fight alongside those previously thought their betters.