The Death of the Fronsac: A Novel - Tapa dura

'A wayward story told with admirable vigour and intensity' The National.

'A story that conjures up memorable characters and describes vividly the wartime atmosphere ... an engrossing book' Greenock Telegraph.

'Ambitious and affecting' Sunday Herald.

'[Neal Ascherson's] gripping second world war novel [is a] thoughtful portrait of the wartime experience' Spectator.

'[A] humane and compassionate novel ... As wise as it is rich. It is an absorbing, complex and humane piece of fiction about terrible times and how good and bad people make the best they can of them' The Bottle Imp.

'It brings history to life for sure but stands as a remarkable first novel. I hope Ascherson has more novels to write' Tribune.

'A gripping fictional account' Country Life.

'A wholehearted emotional book ... It makes you understand fuel tanks and dirty wrecked water - and also unexpected elderly love' The Tablet, Books of the Year.

'[T]his debut novel remains long in the mind ... A marvellous meditation on what it is to have lost a country and a past, and to be adrift in search of what might once again constitute a home' TLS.