In a story of savage wartime trauma and postwar recovery, Bruce Duncan, a battlefield surgeon, struggles to rebuild his life in small-town Pennsylvania. Haunted by visions of ruined flesh, ice-crusted bodies, and his own near-death experiences, Bruce soon finds that battlefields can appear where we least expect them. A chance encounter thrusts him into another clash—one with a friend, turned enemy—where Bruce’s life is at risk and the townspeople’s welfare hangs in the balance.

When a letter arrives from Amelia, an Englishwoman who chose an aristocrat over him, Bruce must decide whether to gamble on trusting her again. He’s also torn by his attraction to Sarah, a young woman doctor who has come to his village but warns him that she is off-limits. Bruce’s purpose and moral compass are on the line. Will his emotional wounds paralyze him? Or can he overcome a new tyranny? Will his future be marked by hollowness and regret? Or can he solve the enigma of an impossible love?

With a gripping narrative, moving from America, back to England under the siege of German rockets, and to the killing fields of Alsace, this novel plunges deep into the crucible of trauma and gives fresh vision for paths to redemption and healing.