The Aftermath

Book excerpt: A stunning, powerful blockbuster of passion, betrayal and conscience to rival Atonement and The End of the Affair. Hamburg, 1946. Thousands wander the rubble, lost and homeless. Charged with overseeing the rebuilding of this devastated city and the de-Nazification of its broken people, Captain Lewis is stationed in a grand house on the outskirts of the city, where he will be joined by his grieving wife, Rachael, and only remaining son, Edmund. But rather than force its owners, a German widower and his traumatized daughter, out onto the streets, Lewis insists that the two families live together. In this charged and claustrophobic atmosphere, all must confront their true selves as enmity and grief give way to passion and betrayal. The Aftermath is a stunning novel about our deepest desires, our fiercest loyalties and the humbling power of forgiveness.