Shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2014, this is an immensely powerful novel about an ordinary German couple trying to build a life amidst the trauma of World War II.

The debut novel by the author of The Colony, longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize

A soldier on the Russian Front marries a photograph of a woman he has never met. Hundreds of miles away in Berlin, the woman marries a photograph of the soldier. It is a contract of business rather than love. When the newlywed strangers finally meet, however, passion blossoms and they begin to imagine a life together under the bright promise of Nazi Germany. But as the tide of war turns and Allied enemies come ever closer, the couple find themselves facing the terrible consequences of being ordinary people stained with their small share of an extraordinary guilt...

"Sweeping, powerful, epic" - The Times

"'Brutal but brilliant... Full of heart-pounding suspense... Magee offers an insight both into the deprivation experienced by ordinary soldiers and the excesses of those in power... An impressive, even stunning debut' " - Sunday Times (Ireland)

"An engaging and beautifully written novel, with an emotional resonance that remains long after you've closed the book. It succeeds in doing what only the best historical novels can do - making the past feel present" - Independent

"A novel made all the more harrowing by its extreme readability" - Observer