The Faithful
- Author Juliet West
- Narrator Grace Andrews
- Publisher Pan Macmillan
- Run Time 10 hours and 3 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Historical fiction, Historical romance, Narrative theme: Politics.
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What to expect
'A wonderful writer' - Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist
As Britain is pulled towards war, the secrets within two families threaten to tear them apart, in the outstanding novel from Juliet West, The Faithful . . .
July 1935. In the village of Aldwick on the Sussex coast, sixteen-year-old Hazel faces a long, dull summer with just her self-centred mother Francine for company. But then Francine decamps to London with her lover Charles, Oswald Mosley's blackshirts arrive in Aldwick, and Hazel's summer suddenly becomes more interesting. She finds herself befriended by two very different people: Lucia, an upper-class blackshirt, passionate about the cause; and Tom, a young working-class boy, increasingly scornful of Mosley's rhetoric. In the end, though, it is Tom who wins Hazel's heart - and Hazel who breaks his.
Autumn 1936. Now living in London, Hazel has grown up fast over the past year. But an encounter with Tom sends her into freefall. He must never know why she cut off all contact last summer, betraying the promises they’d made. Yet Hazel isn't the only one with secrets. Nor is she the only one with a reason to keep the two of them apart . . .
From the beaches of Sussex to the battlefields of civil war Spain, The Faithful is a rich and gripping tale of love, deception and desire.
Critics Review
A wonderful writer
Made me miss my stop on the tube . . .
My favourite Great War novel . . . Incredible writing
A vivid, compelling tale of confused loyalties, compromises and consequences
The Faithful is about many things . . . but mostly it is about love. Juliet West knows how to create an evocative sense of time and place, and then fill it with the most interesting characters, and finally, deliver a story that kept me guessing. I loved it
A rich, multi-layered story of love, loss and conflict . . . At once heartbreaking and full of hope
Vibrant prose and characters . . . So well-drawn, and incredibly topical
A vivid and unforgettable story of love . . . Absorbing, fast-paced, and poignant, the portrait of ordinary people caught up in movements bigger than themselves makes this a must-read for today’s readers
A tightly knotted story of love and divided loyalties that is both rich in period detail and told with warmth, wit and passion. Wonderful
A compelling and perceptive story of divided loyalties and the complexities of love, friendship and family
Enthralling . . . Tugs the reader close to the inner lives of ordinary people, characters whose decisions and dilemmas, loves and losses remain with you long after reading
A wonderful novel about desire and its consequences, set amongst the sharply divided politics of the 1930s. A page-turner
Enthralling . . . Juliet has brought the time and place to life and then peopled it with completely believable characters to play out this wonderful story
Exquisite . . . The story builds beautifully, the plot naturally quickening in pace to a gripping denouement. I was completely drawn into the novel’s world and engaged by its issues of loyalty and loss. Highly recommended
A rising literary star
A story of love across borders, idealism and integrity . . . and a mini-series in the making
Fans of well-crafted period fiction will gobble down this second novel from the author of Before The Fall
Wonderfully evocative
Juliet West writes incredibly moving and atmospheric war-era novels, full of strong women, secrets, conflict and desire. This, her second, is superb
Gripping
Compelling, nuanced … suffused with historical detail. West weaves a subtle mystery, luring us towards truths so skilfully exposed that the effect is truly shocking
A tale of family secrets against a backdrop of war and extremism
Teen Hazel finds love under the watch of Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts. A year later, the pair cross paths. Tom must never know why she broke his heart, but it’s not just Hazel holding secrets
In her second stunning novel, West uses her lyrical prose, acute powers of observation and impressive sense of time and place to explore issues that are as relevant now as they were eighty years ago. The Faithful achieves what many authors aspire to . . . an outstanding follow-up to a successful debut
An epic story of star-crossed lovers
Intelligent, wise, and full of passion and courage . . . A superb read
Evocative and powerful
As poignant as it is powerful
A stunning debut — a breathtaking portrayal of life and love in all its complexity. Heartbreaking
Poignant and arresting
A beautiful love story
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