Strange Meeting — Susan Hill

Susan Hill's classic novel Strange Meeting tells of the power of love amidst atrocities. 'He was afraid to go to sleep. For three weeks, he had been afraid of going to sleep . . .' Young officer John Hilliard returns to his battalion in France following a period of sick leave in England. Despite having trouble adjusting to all the new faces, the stiff and reserved Hilliard forms a friendship with David Barton, an open and cheerful new recruit who has still to be bloodied in battle. As the pair approach the front line, to the proximity of death and destruction, their strange friendship deepens. But each knows that soon they will be separated . . . 'A remarkable feat of imaginative and descriptive writing' The Times 'The feeling of men under appalling stress at a particular moment in history is communicated with almost uncanny power' Sunday Times 'Truly Astonishing' Daily Telegraph Susan Hill's novels include I'm the King of the Castle and Mrs de Winter, a sequel to Du Maurier's Rebecca. She is also well known for her children's books (including Can It Be True?, which won the Smarties Prize). She has written non-fiction and autobiography and is a regular broadcaster and reviewer. She is married to the Shakespeare scholar Stanely Wells, and they live in a Gloucestershire village from which she runs a small publishing company called Long Barn Books. You can see her website at www.susan-hill.com.