Homecoming is at the heart of this haunting novel, which explores whether it is ever possible to truly return home from war, and how best to welcome back those who have been changed irrevocably by the trauma of war. Opening in London, in 1919, this excellent sequel to My Dear I Wanted to Tell You deftly develops the story of married couples Riley and Nadine, Peter and Julia, and nurse, Rose: the war may be over, but these physically and psychologically scarred survivors enter an emotional battlefield.

"It was a great time for not mentioning. No one wanted to remind anyone of anything," writes Young, who subtly homes in on the unmentioned, vividly depicting the inescapable reminders, such as Riley's disfigured face; he is 23, but "looking a hundred". Bodily and emotional wounds abound as Young questions: to what extent can damage be healed?

How to move on and rebuild lives from the wreckage? "For Riley and for Nadine, looking back would involve unbearable regret about what might have been. Unbearable."

Odysseus's fraught return home echoes throughout this immensely moving story about the perils of dwelling on the painful past yet the need to make peace with it before moving forward.

From The Iliad to Birdsong, war and love have been powerful themes in fiction. In this centenary of the first world war, Young adds a valuable voice, eloquently articulating war's after-effects and the plight of those who suffered in silence. By turns fierce and tender, The Heroes' Welcome depicts heroism on the grand scale and the importance of the tiniest act of courage.