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Get Pulled Into The Undertow by Jo Baker

The Undertow by Jo Baker is the American debut of an enthralling new voice in fiction—a vivid, indelibly told novel that follows four generations of the Hastings family from the outbreak of World War I in 1914 to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2005.

The novel follows William, a young factory worker preparing to join the navy; his son Billy, who cycles into the D-Day landings; his grandson Will, an Oxford professor in the 1960s; and his great-granddaughter, Billie, an artist in contemporary London. War is a constant throughout the novel, shaping the lives of each of its main characters, as world history impinges on personal history in complex and myriad ways.

In this beautifully written novel—a wonderful choice for reading groups interested in historical fiction and family sagas—Jo Baker reveals the Hastings’ legacy of choices made, chances lost, and truths long buried in what is an enthralling story of inheritance, fate, passion, and what it means to truly break free of the past.