Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (Vintage)

THE horrors of life in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp during the Second World War are graphically explored in this novel.

But a parallel story-line also traces Australian army surgeon Dorrigo Evans' love affair with his uncle's wife back in Aussie and his luke-warm relationship with his own wife Ella.

Evans is a complex character, hailed after the war as a hero, but a serial adulterer consumed by self-loathing.

The author's father survived the Burma death railway, and the atrocities imposed by the Japanese on Australian soldiers are described in great detail.

The Silence of Ghosts by Jonathan Aycliffe (Corsair)

IF you love a good ghost story, this book is a real treat. It has all the classic ingredients, a spooky house, things which go bump in the night, and a remote isolated setting in the Lake District.

Dominic Lancaster has been badly injured serving in the Navy during the Second World War, having a leg amputated as a result. When the Blitz makes life in London dangerous, his wealthy family send him off to the family summer home in the Lakes, along with his partially deaf young sister Octavia.

The Children Act by Ian McEwan (Vintage Books)

by Patrick O'Connor

SOME may consider that with the world the way it is at the moment, staying clear of any debate involving religion may be considered wise.

But the acclaimed British author Ian McEwan has never been one for shying away from difficult subjects.

Field Service by Robert Edric (Doubleday)

THIS riveting story is about the First World War, not the actual conflict but the sobering aftermath.

The central character is Captain James Read who is based in Morlancourt, France in 1920.

His unit has been tasked with the identification and burial of the many corpses still scattered around the fields and battle grounds of Normandy.

Dominion by C J Sansom (Pan)

WHAT would have happened if the Germans had won the Second World War?

That's the premise for this cracking novel. Author C J Sansom makes May 9, 1940, the critical date. His alternate history has Britain choosing a much different course than they did.

The Uninvited by Liz Jensen (Bloomsbury)

by Patrick O'Connor

THERE is a chilling start to The Uninvited – a seven year old girl fires a nail gun into her grandmother's neck.

At first this seems an isolated incident but when more families suffer violent attacks at the hands of their own children, a pattern emerges.