Earth and heaven - Sue Gee

In the aftermath of the First World War, the young painter Walter Cox leaves Kent for London. The pre-war years of the avant-garde have vanished; English artists, bereaved and shellshocked, must find a new direction.

At the Slade School of Art, presided over by the legendary Henry Tonks, students and decommissioned soldiers mingle. Here, travelling in from lodgings in Camden Town, Walter is taught by Philip Wilson Steer and meets all the important people of his life: the sculptor Euan Harrison, haunted by the fighting; Nina Frith and Sarah Lewis, two very different women. Only by returning to the place of his childhood can he begin to rediscover the pulse of his art – but how, in the wake of tragedy, can he rediscover meaning?

Sue Gee’s moving new novel brilliantly evokes the atmosphere of post-war London and the landscape of Kent farms and hopfields. At its heart is an unforgettable story of the growth of love.