THE BROKEN VOW BY LUISA A JONES

I have to say that although I enjoyed the first Fitznortons book, I liked this one so much better, I think in the main because it provided a different slant on the First World War. My grandfather worked with shell-shocked patients after the war so I also have a natural affinity with the subject matter.

When her fiancé, Eustace, suffers from shell-shock, in order to help him Charlotte Fitznorton decides to open her family’s Welsh home as a hospital for officers who’ve been brought back from the front with the condition. She imagines it will take little more than a few kind words and some chivvying up to put them back on their feet, but she is very much mistaken. Under the guidance of her suffragette cousin Venetia, Charlotte begins to change from a spoilt brat to a thoughtful young woman with a social conscience.

It's one of the biggest arcs of character growth I have read in a very long time, and so ambitious to undertake. Yet it works, and the subplots around it make the book all the more rewarding.