Mufti

Mufti is an odd book, but a revealing one. Having made a reputation during the war with stories that portrayed the conflict in a tough-minded way (a tough-mindedness that was often taken for realism) Sapper bravely took on the task of writing a condition-of-England novel, set during the last three months of the War, and trying to make sense of the coming post-war world. In a town called Poperinghe, during the height of the German offensive in May 1918, quartermaster-sergeant, Derek Vane, watches with mixed feelings as a pilot and his observer are shot down. What is there left for this ghost town, ravaged by war and utterly devastated? This penetrating story, which takes us through to the end of the war and charts the diverse experiences of soldiers and their loved ones, was written by a man who experienced it all.