Paperback: The Soldier’s Wife by Joanna Trollope (Black Swan, £7.99)

Ray Riley served, and died, in the First World War; his brother, Eric, fought in the Second. Eric’s son, George, was in the Falklands. And now George’s son, Dan, is about to come home after a tour of duty in Afghanistan. He’s a soldier’s soldier, steeped in masculine tradition. His wife, Alexa, a diplomat’s daughter, awaits him. As always, Joanna Trollope sucks you into the story; as always, she pins people’s emotions with deft details. She sees how modern communication can make war harder, in some ways, for soldiers and their families. You really get a sense of what happens when a soldier comes home. In some ways, he doesn’t.