Spanning decades, from the 1950s to the present, this ambitious, original novel offers a nuanced and absorbing portrait of friendship and rivalry that explores class divisions and the psychological legacy of the nuclear age.

In the late 1950s, during his National Service, Drummond meets the two people who will change his life: Carter, a rich, educated young man sent down from Oxford; and Gwen, a barmaid with whom he feels an instant connection. His feelings for both will be tested at a military base known as Doom Town. It is an experience that will colour the rest of his – and his family’s – life.

The Blind Light moves from the 50s through to present day, taking in the global and local events that will shape and define Drum’s family. From the Cuban Missile Crisis to the War on Terror, from the Dagenham strikes to foot and mouth, we see a family come together, driven apart, fracture and reform – as the pressure of the past is brought, sometimes violently, to bear on the present.

The Blind Light is a powerful and ambitious yet intimate story and a brilliant evocation of a family and a country. It will remind you how complicated human history is – and how hard it is to do the right thing for the right reasons.

With echoes of Marilyn Robinson, Don DeLillo, Jim Crace and Jayne Anne Phillips, this is a powerful, ambitious, big yet intimate story of our national past and a brilliant evocation of a family and a country