The Last of the Greenwoods

In a field outside Bromsgrove, two elderly brothers live in adjoining railway carriages. No one visits and they never speak to each other. Until the day Zohra Dasgupta, a young postwoman, delivers an extraordinary letter - from a woman claiming to be the sister they thought had been murdered fifty years earlier.

So begins an intriguing tale: is this woman an impostor? If she's not, what did happen all those years ago? And why are the brothers such recluses? Then there's Zohra. Once a bright, outgoing teenager, the only friend she will see from her schooldays is laidback Crispin, who has roped her in to the restoration of an old railway line on his father's land. For which, as it happens, they need some carriages . . .

With wry humour and a cast of characters as delightful as they are damaged, Clare Morrall tells an engrossing story of past misdeeds and present reckoning, which shows that for all the wrong turnings we might take, sometimes it is possible to retrace our steps.

“Morrall's writing is tender and subtle: each character is finely drawn, with their flaws and tics as vivid as their courage and kindness. At no point is one drawn into a false sense of empathy; rather, we meander through the story, becoming increasingly involved. As the plot streams towards it triumphant conclusion, the strands unite into a story that is set in time but also timeless - about recognition, family and what it means to belong.”

PRAISE FOR WHEN THE FLOODS CAME:

Astute and vigorously imagined . . . frequently wise and deeply humane . . . After her Booker-shortlisted debut, and two historical novels, Morrall's accomplished move into speculative fiction marks her out as one of our most dependable writers. - Spectator

Morrall's superb imagination makes When the Floods Came hugely entertaining but the real power lies in the warmth of her writing and the charm of her characters. - The Times

Superbly imagined . . . A wonderful book by a terrific writer - Daily Mail

Morrall envisions an all too believable dystopian future in a novel that charms and appals in equal measure. - Irish Independent

The measured pace of the story is mesmeric; the wilfulness of adolescence excruciatingly well drawn - Guardian

Clare Morrall was born in Exeter and now lives in Birmingham, where she works as a music teacher. Her first novel, Astonishing Splashes of Colour, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2003. Since then she has published six novels: Natural Flights of the Human Mind, The Language of Others, The Man Who Disappeared, which was a TV Book Club Summer read in 2010, The Roundabout Man, After the Bombing and When the Floods Came, which was published by Sceptre in 2016.

In a field outside Bromsgrove, two elderly brothers live in adjoining railway carriages. No one visits and they never speak to each other. Until the day Zohra Dasgupta, a young postwoman, delivers an extraordinary letter - from a woman claiming to be the sister they thought had been murdered fifty years earlier. So begins an intriguing tale: is this woman an impostor? If she's not, what did happen all those years ago? And why are the brothers such recluses? Then there's Zohra. Once a bright, outgoing teenager, the only friend she will see from her schooldays is laidback Crispin, who has roped her in to the restoration of an old railway line on his father's land. For which, as it happens, they need some carriages . . . With wry humour and a cast of characters as delightful as they are damaged, Clare Morrall tells an engrossing story of past misdeeds and present reckoning, which shows that for all the wrong turnings we might take, sometimes it is possible to retrace our steps.

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