The Soldier's Return [antikvár]

PROLOGUE She got an atlas in the reference section of the library and sought out Burma. In the poky little room above the fire station in the Council yard, she stared at the name and tried to imagine what it was like to be there. She was not allowed to take it home but she returned to it more than once, willing it to yield up comfort. Later she found a book which had a few dull pages on Burma but the photographs engrossed her: exotic-looking birds, houses built of wood, gigantic tropical forests - she could tell their size because there was a picture of elephants in a clearing - lovely smiling women in beautiful clothes, and pagodas, all sizes, some as big as the tower on Highmoor. She mentioned the elephants and the pagodas in her letters. He kept the letters deep in his kitbag, wrapped in a square of yellow oilskin. Every day he touched the wad of them: every morning. He knew that if he failed to do that, his luck would go. The boy could not truthfully remember his father, not at all, but she referred to him in everyday ways and there was a presence in