Dunmore so cleverly interweaves each of the character's stories that as the tale unfolds it has the chilling ring of absolute authenticity. It’s gripping and page turning and all those things you expect in a Spy Dramabut always laced with her trademark humanity. I was totally caught up in the story which is paced perfectly. Her best book yet.”Mavis Cheek

Virtuoso storyteller Helen Dunmore returns with a thrilling Cold War espionage tale in which the closest ties are called into question and nobody is quite who they seem.

It’s London, 1960. The Cold War is at its height, and a spy may be a friend or neighbor, colleague or lover. Two colleagues, Giles Holloway and Simon Callington, face a terrible dilemma over a missing top-secret file. At the end of a suburban garden, in the pouring rain, Simon’s wife, Lily, buries a briefcase containing the file deep in the earth. She believes that in doing so she is protecting her family. What she will learn is that no one is immune from betrayal or the devastating consequences of exposure.

Lyrical and haunting...With this novel, Dunmore should rank high among writers like Kipling who explore war, its aftermath, and its lies.”Washington Independent Review of Books

A poignant reminder that throughout history, the battle is far from over after a soldier returns home....As this impeccable and finely wrought literary tale winds to a chilling conclusion, readers will themselves be haunted by its evocative portrayal of a life-defining friendship and loss.”Bookpage

Published during the centenary of World War One to astonishing reviews and selected as a Richard and Judy Summer 2014 Book Club Pick in the UK,The Lie is a spellbinding tale of love, remembrance, and deception, set before, during and immediately after World War I, from Orange Prize-winning author, Helen Dunmore.

Daniel Branwell has survived the First World War and returned to the small Cornwall fishing town where he was born. As he struggles to make a living in the aftermath of war, Daniel is drawn deeper and deeper into the traumas of the past and memories of his dearest friend and his first love. Set in France during the First World War and in postwar England,The Lie is a deeply moving and mesmerizing story from one of our most preeminent storytellers.

Devastating and triumphant...wholly satisfying. Endings are often the hardest beast for an author to tame, but Dunmore does it, with elegance, vigor and clarity.”The Denver Post

Heartbreaking.”Kirkus Reviews

[A]moving and complex novel...Dunmore does a superb job of capturing her lead’s inner torment, even as his story creeps toward a shattering conclusion.”Publishers Weekly (starred, boxed review)

From the award-winning author of The Siege, Helen Dunmore, comes The Lie; a spellbinding tale of love, remembrance, and deception, set against the backdrop of World War I.

Cornwall, 1920. Daniel Branwell has survived the First World War and returned to the small fishing town where he was born. Behind him lie the trenches and the most intense relationship of his life. As he works on the land, struggling to make a living in the aftermath of war, he is drawn deeper and deeper into the traumas of the past and memories of his dearest friend and his first love. Above all, as the drama unfolds, Daniel is haunted by the terrible, unforeseen consequences of a lie. Set in France during the First World War and in post-war Cornwall, this is a deeply moving and mesmerizing story of the ?men who marched away”.

'Written in crisp, enthralling prose . . . the sense of deja vu surrounding the story makes it all the more chilling. . . . Tense and engaging.'?The New Yorker

?A perfect ghost story.”?The Independent

Helen Dunmore is a bestselling novelist and poet whose historical novels have been compared to Tolstoy, Emily Bronte, and Virginia Woolf. In her new novel, Dunmore once again dives into the past with an evocative and sophisticated ghost story about a love affair between a neglected wife and a mysterious soldier.

In the winter of 1952, Isabel Carey moves to the East Riding of Yorkshire with her husband, Philip, a medical doctor. With Philip spending long hours on call, Isabel finds herself lonely and vulnerable as she strives to adjust to the realities of being a housewife.

One evening, while Philip is at work, Isabel is woken by intense cold. When she hunts for extra blankets, she discovers an old RAF greatcoat hidden in the back of a cupboard. Sleeping under the coat for warmth, she starts to dream. And not long afterward, she is startled by a knock at her window. Outside is a young RAF pilot named Alec, whose powerful presence both disturbs and excites her. They begin an intense affair, but nothing has prepared her for the truth about Alec’s life, nor the impact it will have on her own.

A spectral tale of love and war that blurs the line between the real and imaginary, The Greatcoat is an atmospheric and accomplished literary chiller about quiet temptations and the lasting trauma of battle.