Devotion. Louisa Young

      LOUISA YOUNG

       Devotion

      

      The Borough Press

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

      1 London Bridge Street

      London

      SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by The Borough Press 2016

      Copyright © Louisa Young 2016

      Cover design Claire Ward © HarperCollinsPublishers 2017

      Cover photographs © Dragan Todorovic/Trevillion Images (landscape); Alexa Garbarino/Trevillion Images (woman)

      Louisa Young asserts the moral right to

      be identified as the author of this work

      ‘Begin the Beguine’ words and music by Cole Porter © 1935 (renewed)

      WB Music Corp. (ascap) all rights administered by Warner/Chappell North America Ltd.

      A catalogue record for this book

      is available from the British Library

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

      Some characters (or names) and incidents portrayed in it,

      while based on real historical figures, are the work

      of the author’s imagination.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780007532902

      Ebook Edition ISBN: 9780007532896

      Version: 2017-02-14

       Praise for Devotion:

      ‘Young has conjured up another rich historical novel and I longed to know the fate of this tragic cast of friends. These characters demand devotion – they’ll get it, too’

       The Times

      ‘Young expertly weaves politics, race and loyalty into the family’s narrative’

       Observer

      ‘A stirring story of war and its consequences … tender and convincing. Well-drawn female characters complete an engaging saga’

       Mail on Sunday

      ‘Elegantly written and compulsively readable, Devotion manages to be both thrilling and heartfelt – a real treasure of a book’

      JAMI ATTENBERG

      ‘A sumptuous portrayal of love and war in fascist Rome’

       Observer

      ‘Anybody who hasn’t read her WW1 and postwar trilogy … should get buying. An absolutely magnificent trilogy … three volumes is not enough. I NEED to know more … and sparking such a need is a triumph for a novelist’

      BEL MOONEY

      ‘This moving and vivid historical novel … cleverly interleaves the personal and the political, portraying the conflicts of loyalty produced by troubled times with great subtlety … written with real knowledge and affection’

       Tablet

      Praise for The Heroes’ Welcome and My Dear I Wanted to Tell You:

      ‘Young possesses in abundance emotional conviction, pace and imaginative energy, and these qualities will draw readers with her through time and space, as she unfolds the story of the Lockes and Purefoys on their journey through the 20^th century’

      HELEN DUNMORE, Guardian

      ‘Powerful, sometimes shocking, boldly conceived, it fixes on war’s lingering trauma to show how people adapt – or not – and is irradiated by anger and pity’

       Sunday Times

      Table of Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

       Copyright

       Praise for Devotion:

       Dedication

       Part One: 1928

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Part Two: 1932

       Chapter Six

      

       Chapter Seven

      

       Chapter Eight

      

       Part Three: 1933–4

      

       Chapter Nine