Patrick Gale's THE FACTS OF LIFE is a mesmerising, epic yet intimate novel of love, music and the life events that stay with us forever - perfect for any reader of Armistead Maupin, or E M Forster

'Absorbing . . . deftly characterised, deeply involving and relevant' The Times

German composer Edward Pepper escapes to England just before the war begins in earnest. Struck with TB, he is recuperating in hospital when he meets Sally, a young doctor who has battled her way through medical school, despite the opposition of her parents. They fall in love and marry, settling in the fenlands of East Anglia. Years later, Edward watches as his grandchildren trip up against life and death, and realises that patterns can repeat themselves, bringing both pain and unexpected discovery.

"Absorbing . . . deftly characterised, deeply involving and relevant" - The Times

"Impossible to put down" - Daily Telegraph

"A monumental feat of imagination, achingly true and beautiful. I'd be hard pressed to recall the last time a novel so totally captivated me" - Armistead Maupin

"Gale's best and most complex novel" - New Statesman

"[An] extraordinary blockbuster of a novel" - Time Out