Soldiers and Innocents

First edition. 8vo. 116pp. Black cloth boards lettered in gilt to spine. Jacket photo by Simon Farnhell.

Author's literary debut. Winner of the 1990 David Higham Prize for Best First Novel and recipient of a Welsh Arts Council fiction award in 1991. An elite airborne soldier, deserts his unit in Northern Ireland, kidnaps his five-year-old son and embarks on a voyage of self-discovery in the wilds of the Brecon Beacons. Made into a 1991 eight-part BBC Radio 4 series, abridged by Elizabeth Bradbury, and read by Loan Meredith. "An astonishing first novel: wry, raw and consummately well-written." –Sunday Times