The Road Back

The armistice sends Ernst and the surviving soldiers of his company back to Germany, but peace does not restore the lives they left behind. School, family and work now seem remote from the experience of the front, while shortages, political unrest and public arguments about the war make their return another form of dislocation.

The novel follows the veterans as they try different routes into civilian life and confront grief, anger and purposelessness. As a companion to All Quiet on the Western Front, it shifts the focus from physical survival in the trenches to the psychological and social consequences of demobilisation.