Sarah is over 90 years old now, but she can still remember when she was a young teenager scavenging for gulls eggs or nettles to have for dinner. A wounded flying ace appears from nowhere to rescue a friend from the rising tide, and from then on their fates are linked. She finds his tales of courage under fire enthralling, and she is fascinated by his romance with a local girl. Then, in a particularly awesome storm the sea invades her house, ripping off the roof, as well as desolating the entire village, and the lives of everyone change forever. This is Patrick Cooper's second book, a gripping novel which successfully evokes the atmosphere of rural English life during World War 1 and convincingly demonstrates the scale of social change in the last century.

Patrick Cooper was born in Wales in 1949. For the last twelve years he has worked in children's theatre as a puppeteer-performer, writer and director. He is married and has two young children.