This is a highly accomplished novel’ D.J. Utterly credible, utterly compelling, and very enjoyable’ Allan Massie, Scotsman ‘Deeply felt, beautifully realised’ John Sutherland, Sunday Times ‘The first Great War came alive in Faulks’s Birdsong the second Great War, and in particular the Burma campaign, comes very much alive in Melvyn Bragg’s The Soldier’s Return wholly absorbing’ John Bayley, Evening Standard ‘Sympathetic, touching, infinitely believable… As all three strive to adjust, the bonds of loyalty and love are stretched to breaking point in this taut, and profoundly moving novel. In addition, his six year old son now barely remembers him, and his wife has gained a sense of independence from her wartime jobs. But the war has changed him, broadening his horizons as well as leaving him with traumatic memories. Most of our images are sourced automatically, so the book cover shown might be different to the edition we have in stock.‘Unsentimental, truthful and wonderful’ Beryl Bainbridge, Independent Books of the Year When Sam Richardson returns in 1946 from the ‘Forgotten War’ in Burma to Wigton in Cumbria, he finds the town little changed. This is a used book in good condition, meaning that it shows signs of wear but has no major defects.

MelvynnBragg's latest novel is 'The Maid of Buttermere'.

Melvyn Bragg is the author of 13 novels his non-fiction includes a study of Laurence Olivier, 'Land of the Lakes' and 'Speak for England'. In the book he discusses marriage, women, his work, arthritis and addiction to drink, and also shows himself to be a fine descriptive writer and humourist with a love of literature. Further films intervened, then, in quick succession, he divorced Elizabeth Taylor, married Suzy Hunt and re-married Taylor, divorced her and married Sally Burton. After a scholarship to Oxford, a brilliant career in the theatre, then Hollywood and films like 'The Robe', his career blossomed with 'Camelot' and 'Cleopatra' after which he married co-star Elizabeth Taylor. Here, the actor who was born Richard Jenkins, the twelfth child of a South Wales miner, stands revealed as never before, often in his own words.

Bragg has also had the benefit of conversations with actors and close friends, including Sir John Gielgud, Sir Michael Hordern, Lauren Bacall, Robert Hardy, John Neville, Emlyn Williams, John Le Carre and Alec Guinness. Many of those close to Burton have talked for the first time, including his daughter Kate, his elder sister Cis, who brought him up as her own after the death of his mother when he was two years old and the teacher Philip Burton who adopted him and gave him his name. This is the first biography of the actor, Richard Burton, to be supported by his own 300,000-word unpublished journals that cover the years of his marriage to Elizabeth Taylor, plus all his papers and unpublished memoirs of his adopted father.

Melvyn bragg richard burton