An army of books about the first global conflict has greeted the centenary of the first world war, but today's podcast guests are more concerned with its aftermath.
Kamila Shamsie's novel A God in Every Stone follows an English archaeologist to India, where she meets up with two brothers – a wounded survivor of Ypres and a precociously talented archaeological researcher. Shamsie explains why she chose these three characters to trace the legacy of the war and the beginning of the end of the British empire.
In The Heroes' Welcome, Louisa Young returns to a family we first encountered in her bestselling novel My Dear I Wanted to Tell You ... investigating what it meant for the soldier "heroes" to return home to a world that didn't want to look at the damage inflicted on them.
Reading list
The Heroes' Welcome by Louisa Young (HarperCollins)
A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie (Bloomsbury)
