Crossing the Lines - Brossura

Enthralling, a joy to read ... immensely satisfying ... [it] is a novel to live in. By that I mean of course that it's one that enriches the reader's life. (Allan Massie, Scotsman)

Enthralling, a joy to read ... The range of characters... is evidence of the richness of Melvyn Bragg's imagination. He brings to life all sorts of people, and so deepens and extends our understanding ... It's a conventional story, and you may think you have read it often. So indeed you probably have. Yet Melvyn Bragg makes it new. He makes it new and he makes it matter. He has a rare gift for exploring the inability of people to express their feelings, while allowing the reader to understand just how intense and deep those feelings are ... There is humour in the novel. There is much pleasure to be had from its recapture of times, moods, attitudea which have now slipped away. But what I admire most is Bragg's ability to give dignity to all his characters, to treat the inarticulate, and those whose experience of life is narrow, with the same respect he gives to his young hero. And he does this without sliding into sentimentality ... [it] is immensely satisfying, written with honesty and imagination ... it's a book you can trust, written with the utmost integrity. Bragg's material has been a long time maturing, and is all the better for that. The result is a novel to live in. By that I mean of course that it's one that enriches the reader's life. (Allan Massie, Scotsman)

THE SOLDIER'S RETURN

'His masterpiece' Peter Kemp, Sunday Times' Books of the Year (Peter Kemp, Sunday Times' Books of the Year)

Unsentimental, truthful and wonderful (Beryl Bainbridge, Independent's Books of the Year)

An outstandingly good novel ... One of the best English novels of the last ten years ... utterly credible, utterly compelling and very enjoyable (Allan Massie, Scotsman)

A SON OF WAR

A novel of remarkable power and grace ... his authenticity is astounding (Roy Hattersley, The Times)

Shot through with blazing integrity and authenticity (Val Hennessy, Daily Mail)

'He has laid the foundations for one of the finest literary sagas of post-war Britain.'
David Robson, Sunday Telegraph

(David Robson, Sunday Telegraph)

The third part in what is set to be a classic series begun in the bestselling THE SOLDIER'S RETURN and A SON OF WAR