John Stratton is a shell-shocked World War I veteran who comes back home from the battlefields with mental health issues, and the moment of provoked insanity causes him to spend some time in jail after almost killing a man. He tries to return to normal life, but can’t deal with the hustle of city life and settle into normal society. At the advice of the doctor John moves to a farm out of town, hoping that hard work will help banish his demons. John starts making progress in this secret sanctuary. He meets a nearby farmer and his wife, and he befriends their daughter Jess, but his peace is disturbed by a woman who threatens to disrupt his healing and recovery. John has to face a big challenge in order to keep his sanity and new life.
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Warwick Deeping 's work is dominated by historical novels, while his later novels more usually dealt with modern life, and were critical of many tendencies of twentieth-century civilization. Deeping’s novels often deal with controversial issues such as social work and medicine in the slums, gender ambiguity, alcoholism, and women abuse.