The Blasphemer: SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD & A RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK

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Shortlisted for the 2010 Costa Novel Award, an astonishing, ambitious and masterful new novel, with echoes of Birdsong, that reads at the pace of a thriller. SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD & A RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK He had always been scared of flying. Now, the fear is real. A plane crash. The water is rising over his mouth. In his nostrils. Lungs. As Daniel gasps, he swallows; and punches at his seat-belt. Nancy, the woman he loves, is trapped in her seat. He clambers over her, pushing her face into the headrest. It is a reflex, visceral action made without rational thought... But Daniel Kennedy did it. And already we have judged him from the comfort of our own lives. Almost a hundred years earlier, Daniel's great-grandfather goes over the top at Passchendaele.A shell explodes, and he wakes up alone and lost in the hell of no-man's-land. Where are the others? Has he been left behind? And if he doesn't find his unit, is he a deserter? Love; cowardice; trust; forgiveness.How will any of us behave when we are pushed to extremes? 'A great achievement...To take on the First World War as so very many have done and make it fresh is remarkable.' MELVYN BRAGG 'A book that won't leave your fingernails intact...a terrifically exciting and thought-provoking must-read' DAILY MAIL

Nigel Farndale was born and raised in the Yorkshire Dales where he farmed with his father and grandfather, a veteran of the Trenches. He is the author of Haw-Haw- The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce, a biography shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He now lives on the Hampshire-Sussex border with his wife and their three children.

A great achievement...To take on the First World War as so very many have done and make it fresh is remarkable. -- Melvyn Bragg Does suspense exceptionally well, and it's a book that won't leave your fingernails intact...a terrifically exciting and thought-provoking must-read -- John Harding * Daily Mail * This perfectly constructed drama explores the moralities around unconditional love and self-preservation. And it also weaves an intricate story of redemption starting in the trenches at Passchendaele and continuing till Britain's current terror threat...storytelling at its best. * News of the World * A fine novel; strange and unforgettable. -- Kate Saunders * The Times * Ignites with an energy that should ensure short-listing in the next Man Booker Prize....Farndale's evocation of trench warfare surpasses Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong...Of the book's many accomplishments perhaps the strongest is the writing itself. Exquisite and luminous...Farndale gives a master class in the power of literature to illuminate the physical world and the human soul. * The Australian *