It is the spring of 1915, but deep in the trenches, there is no summer in sight...

Shoulder the Sky is the second novel in Anne Perry's insightful and harrowing quintet charting the English experience of the First World War. Perfect for fans of Pat Barker and Sebastian Barry.

'The plot of this book is riveting throughout; the elegance of the prose and depth of characterisation combine to create a powerful and poignant journey into the past that long stays with you after the final page' - The Lady

By April of 1915, as chaplain Joseph Reavley tends to the soldiers in his care, the nightmare of trench warfare is impartially cutting down England's youth. On one of his rescue forays into no-man's-land, Joseph finds the body of an arrogant war correspondent, Eldon Prentice. A nephew of the respected General Owen Cullingford, Prentice was despised for his prying attempts to elicit facts that would turn public opinion against the war. Most troublesome to Joseph, Prentice has been killed not by German fire but, apparently, by one of his own compatriots. What Englishman hated Prentice enough to kill him? Joseph is afraid he may know, and his sister, Judith, who is General Cullingford's driver and translator, harbours her own fearful suspicions.

Meanwhile, Joseph and Judith's brother, Matthew, an intelligence officer in London, continues his quiet search for the sinister figure they call the Peacemaker, who, like Eldon Prentice, is trying to undermine the public support for the struggle-and, as the Reavley family has good reason to believe, is in fact at the heart of a fantastic plot to reshape the entire world. An intimate of kings, the Peacemaker kills with impunity, and his dark shadow stretches from the peaceful country lanes of Cambridgeshire to the twin hells of Ypres and Gallipoli.

What readers are saying about Shoulder the Sky:

'She makes the horror and futility nightmarishly real but not a cliché'

'I feel immersed in the world she is creating'

'A real page-turner with strong literary merit'