It is 1953 in Canvey Island. Len and Auntie Vi are dancing, he in polished shoes and slicked hair, she in fur stole and long gloves. They move lightly, with an easy sway. Uncle George sits and watches, but his mind is elsewhere, still fighting a war that has been over for almost a decade. Back at home, Len's wife Lily and their small son Martin are fighting for their lives, waist-deep in a raging black torrent of water. Lily's foot is stuck, but she begs her son to leave her, to try and get help. This sight of his mother, ghostly in her drenched nightdress, is his last glimpse of her alive. In the years after the flood, Len turns to Vi for comfort, and as Martin grows older he feels estranged from them both, shadowed by feelings of guilt and loss. As we follow the family in the aftermath of their bereavement, we follow too the fortunes of England, from Churchill's funeral to Greenham Common, from the austerity of the post-war years to the day the Iron Lady swept into Downing Street, and beyond. Profoundly moving and eloquently written, Canvey Island tells the story of changing times in post-war Britain through one family's tragedy and loss. It is a novel about past wounds and past passions, about growing up and growing old, about love, hope and reconciliation.

'Canvey Island, James Runcie's tender, intimate account of post-war England, left me both wistful and elated: wistful because of the inevitably compromised emotional lives of its characters, their furtiveness and timidity, their betrayals and bereavements; elated because the novel is so engaging, so well-shaped and so unsparingly, generously truthful.' Jim Crace 'More books should be like this: elegantly written, unpretentious and unashamed fun.' Joanne Harris on THE DISCOVERY OF CHOCOLATE 'The novel is a triumph of inspired imagination. Full of allusions, exotic and quixotic, artful and crafted.' FINANCIAL TIMES on THE DISCOVERY OF CHOCOLATE 'As in his previous novel, THE DISCOVERY OF CHOCOLATE, Runcie has taken a small nugget of history and polished it to delicious effect, capturing the flavour of everyday life in long-vanished societies.' Sunday Telegraph on THE COLOUR OF HEAVEN

James Runcie is the author of two novels, The Discovery of Chocolate and The Colour of Heaven. He is also an award-winning film-maker and theatre director and has scripted several films for BBC Television. James Runcie lives in St.Albans with his wife and two daughters.