Small Wars

by Sadie Jones
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The devastating follow-up to the massive bestseller The Outcast. What happens when everything a man believes in – the army, his country, his marriage - begins to crumble…

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Synopsis

Hal Treherne is a young and dedicated soldier on the brink of a brilliant career. Impatient to see action, his other deep commitment is to Clara, his beautiful ‘red, white and blue girl’, who sustains him as he rises through the ranks.When Hal is transferred to the Mediterranean, Clara, now his wife, and their baby daughters join him. But Cyprus is no ‘sunshine posting’, and the island is in the heat of the Emergency: the British are defending the colony against Cypriots – schoolboys and armed guerrillas alike – battling for enosis, union with Greece. The skirmishes are far from glorious and operations often rough and bloody. Still, in serving his country and leading his men, Hal has a taste of triumph. Clara shares his sense of duty. She must settle down, make no fuss, smile. But action changes Hal, and Clara becomes fearful – of the lethal tit-for-tat beyond the army base, and her increasingly distant husband. The atrocities Hal is drawn into take him further from Clara; a betrayal that is only part of the shocking personal crisis to come.The prizewinning and bestselling author of The Outcast returns with an emotionally powerful portrait of a marriage in extremis and a world-view in question. Sadie Jones has produced a passionate, gut-wrenching and brilliantly researched depiction of a ‘small war’ with devastating consequences; and in doing so, raises important questions that resonate profoundly today.

News & Blog

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Mar 18

2 Titles On Orange Prize Longlist

by Random House Australia on 18 March 2010

2 Titles On Orange Prize Longlist 0 comments

Two RH titles have been longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction - SMALL WARS by Sadie Jones and SAVAGE LANDS by Clare Clark. The shortlist is due to be confirmed on 13 April.

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Editorial Reviews

"Quite an achievement...Jones explores how love may be warped and threatened by politics or polite society but will ultimately endure. She may not have strayed too far from her debut but this follow-up shows that she is no one hit wonder" - Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times

"Stylish fiction follow-up to Orange Prize-shortlisted The Outcast" - The Sunday Times

"This is an unforgiving, far from comfortable read, but a very compelling one" - Tina Jackson, Metro

"Sadie Jones pulls no punches in her description of the savagely unsophisticated island war. An exceptional book that shudders with the weight of human responsibility" - Kerry Fowler, Good Housekeeping

"Jones writes brilliantly; you quickly inhabit Hal and Clara's world; from the dank, metallic smell of the interrogation room to the taste of White Ladies at the Limassol Club that linger long after you've reached the end" - Claire Longrigg, Psychologies

"Poignant and compelling, Sadie Jones's latest novel captures the claustrophobia of a passionate marriage that is overwhelmed by circumstance" - Eithne Farry, Marie Claire

"Here Jones's talent really shows...In an excellent encounter with a military psychiatrist, the dialogue breaks like dry twigs" - Stephanie Cross, TLS

"Heavy with menace and a dark streak of violence, it's as unforgiving as it is gripping" - Metro

"An absorbing story about emotional constraint and its dangers" - The Telegraph

"Small Wars is a gripping account of emotional disintegration against a backdrop of emotional repression... A well-paced novel possessing both literary and moral integrity" - Sunday Telegraph

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