Farewell to Eden | Sebastian Faulks

Philip Deval, a soldier recently returned from the beaches of Normandy, arrives in Palestine on a peace-keeping mission in the final days of the British Mandate. The Sea of Galilee glitters in the distance as war-weary troops marvel at the novelty of oranges and sun - a paradise that belies a fierce new conflict about to erupt.

Some years later, Philip begins work teaching at a school in the English countryside and meets the enigmatic music mistress, Frances Darwood. Over long evenings spent listening to records in her music room, they grow close. But Philip is a changed man, and must confront the secrets and scars of all he has lived through - which threaten, even now, to upend his future.

Farewell to Eden is a sweeping and profound novel about faith in all its forms, and a rich portrait of an embattled post-war Britain. It asks the question- how, after great suffering, do we retain our humanity, learn to love again, and believe in the promise of a better life?

A fascinating, timely and densely pleasurable novel, written with measured and impressive intelligence and tremendous narrative aplomb. -- WILLIAM BOYDBeautifully written and deceptively deep novel of moral choice set in the aftermath of the Second World War. The characters are as utterly convincing as the story. -- ANTONY BEEVORA richly researched and deeply humane meditation on love, faith and the long afterlife of war, set amid the final years of the British Mandate in Palestine and post-war England. Faulks has an extraordinary gift for showing how the sweep of history is lived through the quiet complexities of individual lives. -- Hannah Rothschild, author of the Women's Prize shortlisted novel THE IMPROBABILITY OF LOVEFaulks is one of the titans of historical fiction ... [and] has this gift for really bringing to life the minutiae of the suffering of war and violence. ... It's a really arresting book and important work of storytelling. A must-read. -- Afua HirschAn evocative story * Times Literary Supplement *

Sebastian Faulks has written nineteen books, of which A Week in December and The Fatal Englishman were number one in the Sunday Times bestseller lists. He is best known for Birdsong, part of his French trilogy, and Human Traces, the first in an ongoing Austrian trilogy. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a journalist on national papers. He has also written screenplays and has appeared in small roles on stage. He lives in London.