Of silence and slow time - Catherine Bruton

August 1914, German Occupied France. Twelve-year-old Amelie stumbles across an injured British soldier in the woods and throughout the first winter of the Great War her family keep him hidden from the enemy. But the presence of Captain James Winters starts to create suspicion and resentment in the village when he embarks upon an affair with Amelie's sister and attracts the attention of another local girl, Magali Legrange. As James's activities come under close scrutiny, Amelie becomes an unwitting accomplice as she is increasingly caught in an intimacy with the Englishman which will both give her the means to speak and signal the end of her innocence. In early 1915, James disappears. Seventeen years later his son comes to the village to find out what happened to his father. Now the secrets of the past look certain to come out, although there are those intent on preventing them from doing so. Lyrical, compelling and achingly poignant, this story of first love, intrigue and betrayal is a powerful debut novel from a talented young writer.