Bobby is eighteen and lost on the battlefields of Europe, stumbling his way through World War II. He has turned out to be the heroic soldier he imagined and his experience of battle principally involves fear and confusion. Back home, his mother Alice puts all her hopes in her son, and dreams of his return and starting a new life for them both.

Richard Yates's novel is both tender and ironic as he follows Bobby's adventures and disasters and reflects on the intense but complicated bond between mother and son.

Richard Yates was born in 1926 in New York and lived in California. His prize-winning stories began to appear in 1953 and his first novel,Revolutionary Road, was nominated for the National Book Award in 1961. He is the author of eight other works, including the novelsA Good School,The Easter Parade, andDisturbing the Peace, and two collections of short stories,Eleven Kinds of LonelinessandLiars in Love. He died in 1992.

A moving, ironic and often heart breaking exploration of post-war America by the author of Revolutionary Road