The Skeleton in the Grass

The Skeleton In The Grass, reminiscent of Robert Barnard’s much-acclaimed Out of the Blackout, illuminates an earlier time and place: a small English village in 1936, as Franco’s troops are conquering Spain and Hitler’s legions are preparing to overrun Europe.

The world at large may be sliding into the abyss of disaster, but life at Hallam, country seat of the...