Mother's Boy

''Tender, evocative'' TLS

''Richly engaging'' Spectator

A Radio 4 Serial Fiction Book of the Week

''A characteristically tender novel about a young man growing up in the shadow of one war and the whispers of the next'' Observer

''A wonderful novel about relationships, particularly between a mother and son. A compelling read, beautifully crafted and sensitively written'' Irish Examiner
_______

Laura, a laundress, meets her young husband when they are both placed in service in Teignmouth in 1914. They have a baby, Charles, but his father returns home from the trenches a damaged man, already ill with the tuberculosis that will soon leave Laura a widow.

As a new war looms, Charles signs up for the navy as a coder. His escape from the tight, gossipy confines of Launceston to a more colourful life in action sees him blossom, as he experiences the possibility of death,