The Year After

Davies, Martin

Martin Davies grew up in North West England. All his writing is done in cafes, on buses or on tube trains, and an aversion to laptops means that he always works in longhand. He has travelled widely, including in the Middle East and India, and substantial parts of THE UNICORN ROAD were written while travelling through Sicily. He works as a consultant in the broadcasting industry.

Translation rights in Martin's books have now been sold in Germany, Sweden, Poland, France, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Korea, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Holland.

'THE YEAR AFTER is a moving story of love, loss, and the struggle to adapt to the world in the aftermath of that most destructive of conflicts. Combining such lofty themes as war and death with tales of burning passions, unrequited love and unsolved mysteries, the author deftly weaves a compelling and highly readable narrative ... Davies proves to be a master of the evocative. His descriptions of frosty winter mornings on the moors, or the heady, sweet-smelling days of high summer are breathtaking' -- We Love This Book 'There's a profound mystery at the heart of the family at Hannesford Court and Davies unravels it in lush, painterly prose ... A joy, and I confess to a certain below-stairs fascination with the workings of this mysterious house.' -- Saga 'I just had to keep reading ... The perfect holiday read.' -- Woman '[An] intriguing period novel, which is full of evocative descriptions.' -- Star 'Excels in evoking rural England of the early 20th Century and the closed hierarchical world of the 'big house', and chronicles the shock, grief and bewilderment as this world blows apart. There are obvious echoes of Gone With The Wind. Unlike the antebellum South, aristocratic England was on the winning side in its war but its way of life, if not quite blown away, was badly shaken and lost its sense of permanence and legitimacy. THE YEAR AFTER mix[es] nostalgia and cynicism, a gracious world with a dark underside that maybe deserved to do, if not with so much suffering.' -- Historical Novels Review 'A satisfying mystery with a touch of romance, it also takes on the big themes of loss and grief. Involving.' -- Herald Sun (Australia) 'I'm fond of revisiting the years immediately after World War I, when nostalgia for a lost generation seemed to give everything a wistfully golden glow. Martin Davies seeks this light with his period-piece novel.' -- Sunday Canberra Times (Australia) 'Intricate and imaginative' -- The Times on THE UNICORN ROAD 'The storytelling is masterly.