Wall of Days

Alastair Bruce

In a post apocalyptic and hugely altered world one man lives alone on a gradually eroding island. He decides to return to the country of which he was leader but from which he was exiled after a coup. His fellow countrymen however refuse to acknowledge him and their joint brutal past. A compulsively readable debut novel which leaves the reader pondering on the eternal dilemmas of guilt, betrayal and redemption. Exceptionally well written.

Extract

The wars largely fought themselves out. We kept on killing each other, kept on dying, until our populations were reduced to a level where the land could begin to sustain us all. We negotiated a peace, the terms of which ensured sustainability. I say 'we'; it was I who brokered the peace, along with my counterpart from the other side. It was a tense peace and not without sadness, not without consequences, but peace nonetheless. It lasted until I left and probably beyond.

Parallels