Tom Andersley returns to his family estate in Yorkshire after serving in France throughout the Great War of 191418, but like many of his fellow survivors he finds the estate very different and is not the same man who departed a victim of "shell shock." Unable to reconnect with his wife and daughter, who have endured traumatic experiences of their own, he retreats obsessively into his old hobby, entrenching himself in his greenhouses in order to carry out meticulous experiments in the crossbreeding of fruit trees. He is interrupted in his existential paralysis by the mysterious arrival of an old friend from Eton, Lawrence Oates, whom everyone believes to be dead, having walked out of Robert Scotts tent in an Antarctic blizzard in 1912 in order not to slow down his companions in their doomed attempt to reach safety. Oates tells Tom that he was picked up and preserved by mysterious alien entities that have been entrenched in the Antarctic ice for millions of years, engaged in a long war fought with biological weaponry, against equallymysterious adversaries, unknown to humankind, recent arrivals of their battlefield. Having learned about Toms research from Oates, the aliens have sent the latter back to his homeland in the hope that Toms expertise might enable him to bring a number of "seeds" to maturity, apparently as a clandestine move in their longstalemated war. But what will the consequences be, for Tom, his family and humankind, of the failure or success of the mission...

Binding: Paperback;240 pages; Publisher: Snuggly Books; Classification: FK; Weight: 430 g; Dimensions: 136 x 216 x 19

Something not quite right? You have 21 days from the day you receive it, to send something back.

Please note, we cannot offer refunds on fashion face masks, cosmetics, pierced jewellery, adult toys, and swimwear or lingerie if the hygiene seal is not in place or has been broken.

Items of footwear and/or clothing must be unworn and unwashed with the original labels attached. Also, footwear must be tried on indoors. Items of homeware including bedlinen, mattresses, and toppers, and pillows must be unused and in their original unopened packaging. This does not affect your statutory rights.

Click here to view our full Returns Policy.