SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS PRIZE FOR WOMEN'S FICTION, 2014 SHORTLISTED FOR THE CHAMBERY'S FESTICAL DU PREMIER ROMAN, 2014 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BORD GAIS NEWCOMER CATEGORY 2014 LONGLISTED FOR THE IMPAC AWARD LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE IMPAC DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD
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...