Changes

|title=The Year After

|sort=Year After

|publisher=Hodder Paperbacks

|date=September 2012

|website=

|video=

|summary=A page-turner that'll attract Downton Abbey fans as well as those who like their post-Great War drama slightly heavier, as in [[Atonement by Ian McEwan|Atonement]]. This is a literary time machine, recapturing a crueler era while topping the experience with an enticing mystery.

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Captain Tom Allen is home from World War I. Whilst waiting to be demobbed, he receives an invitation to attend the annual Christmas house-party at Hannesford Court, the stately home of Sir Robert and Lady Stansbury. He used to look forward to it before joining up and so decides to attend again, but everything has changed. The Stansbury's heir, Harry, and son-in-law, Oliver, were killed and second son, Reggie Stansbury, remains in a nursing home with no legs and dwindling self-respect. Whilst coming to terms with the devastating realisation that he's one of the very few men in their set to return alive and entire, Tom remembers pre-war Hannesford and the night when his friend Professor Schmidt died at such a gathering. Everyone believes it was unsuspicious but gradually things are coming to light that hint of hidden secrets. Along with her Ladyship's former companion, Anne (who has issues of her own), Tom decides to investigate as truths are exhumed, making him doubt whether those happier times were as idyllic as he remembers.