The Last of the Greenwoods

At the bottom of a field, two elderly brothers live in adjoining railway carriages, yet never speak to each other. Until one day Zohra Dasgupta, a young postwoman, delivers a shocking letter – from a woman claiming to be their sister, who was murdered in 1969. Is this an impostor, or have Nick and Johnny Greenwood been misled for decades? Now they are forced to revisit old, long suppressed traumas. Zohra also has painful memories. Once an outgoing teenager, she will see only one friend from her schooldays: laidback Crispin, who she's helping to restore an old railway line on his father's land. For which, as it happens, they need some carriages . . . 'Morrall's writing is tender and subtle: each character is finely drawn, with their flaws and tics as vivid as their courage and kindness . . . As the plot streams towards its triumphant conclusion, the strands unite into a story that is set in time but also timeless – about recognition, family and what it means to belong.' Violet Hudson, Literary Review'Ever since her Booker-shortlisted debut, Astonishing Splashes of Colour, Morrall has consistently turned out distinctive and sympathetic tales of quirky outsiders and underdogs. This is no exception' Stephanie Cross, Daily Mail i