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When Gilbert Hedges leaves his minor public school, he starts work for his father, a failing merchant banker in London.
The youthful Gilbert Hedges becomes embroiled in gambling and runs up considerable debts. To settle them he forges a cheque and in 1914 is sent to prison. On his release in 1916, he is conscripted into the army, but cannot obtain a commission because of his conviction.
During trench warfare in 1917, he is the sole survivor when a cellar at Wytschaete in Flanders is shelled. Minutes before capture by the Germans, he dons the uniform of his dead company commander, Captain Jonathon Hawkins, and masquerades as him to secure preferential treatment as a prisoner of war.
On his discharge, and still pretending to be an ex-captain, he visits Hawkins's widow, Frances, at her London house in Oxford Square, Bayswater.
For the next thirty-five years the couple enjoy a turbulent relationship. However, the relationship is interrupted when, in 1920, Frances meets Major Freddie Mathers and a brief affair ensues. But he is posted to Singapore and she does not see him again until 1940, when their affair is resumed.
Genre: Historical
The youthful Gilbert Hedges becomes embroiled in gambling and runs up considerable debts. To settle them he forges a cheque and in 1914 is sent to prison. On his release in 1916, he is conscripted into the army, but cannot obtain a commission because of his conviction.
During trench warfare in 1917, he is the sole survivor when a cellar at Wytschaete in Flanders is shelled. Minutes before capture by the Germans, he dons the uniform of his dead company commander, Captain Jonathon Hawkins, and masquerades as him to secure preferential treatment as a prisoner of war.
On his discharge, and still pretending to be an ex-captain, he visits Hawkins's widow, Frances, at her London house in Oxford Square, Bayswater.
For the next thirty-five years the couple enjoy a turbulent relationship. However, the relationship is interrupted when, in 1920, Frances meets Major Freddie Mathers and a brief affair ensues. But he is posted to Singapore and she does not see him again until 1940, when their affair is resumed.
Genre: Historical
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