Small Wars | Sadie Jones

After reading The Outcast by Sadie Jones I couldn’t wait for her second novel to come out. The wait was worth it. She’s a good story teller.

I loved the setting (Cyprus) and the characters. In a way it’s similar to The Information Office by Mark Mills. This story tells the story of a soldier, Hal Treherne, stationed on the island to protect the British colony on Cyprus. His wife watches the slow decline of Hal’s personality as he struggles with the atrocities taking place and his moral decline as he is unable to talk through it and come to terms with the massacres he witnesses. The marriage unravels, they are unable to talk, hiding their pain and their misunderstandings until clara has to retreat with the children.

Although it may sound like a depressing book, it really isn’t. Jones is a very skilled story teller, so we are engaging with the story and the characters, she makes us care about Clara and Hal, and the political situation on the island. It’s a story we can all relate to on some level and it’s beautifully told.