Farnham is the home of a soldier whose Army duties take him to the ruins of post-war Germany in a new historical fiction novel.

The book, called The Long Shadows of War, was inspired by author David Evered’s father’s wartime service, which David discovered while sorting through his personal effects after he died.

David explained that “a certain amount of the narrative” is set in Farnham where George - the father in the novel - lives.

He said: "The starting point is a tribute to my father. He was absent for much of my early childhood, serving in the Royal Engineers during the Second World War, and was demobilised later than many of his contemporaries.

“He sadly died suddenly and unexpectedly during my second year as an undergraduate. We felt it necessary in the days following his death to fill the time with practical tasks and decided to sort his personal effects.

“We discovered several things which had been unknown to any of us. In common with many who served, he rarely referred to the war after demobilisation. We learned, through finding his detailed notes, that he had volunteered for a mine-lifting and bomb disposal course.

“We also found a tribute to his leadership, prepared by one of the mine clearance groups in the Aachen and Cologne area under his command, and a German newspaper item publicly thanking him for his ‘energetic support of all mine-clearers’.

“The mine-clearers were nearly all Germans ‘recruited’ from among former members of Pioneer Battalions. I have woven some of this into the narrative."

The story begins in 1989, on the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The death of his emotionally constrained mother sees Mark, a successful political journalist, find a journal written by his father George, who was absent throughout his childhood.

It reveals the distinguished military record of a soldier charged with mine clearance in the ruins of post-war Germany.

George’s words paint a vivid picture of the father Mark had scarcely known. A man dedicated to his family despite tensions in his marriage and his growing friendship with a local woman. He only becomes aware of the depth of his feelings for her as he is about to return home following demobilisation.

Mark had never challenged his mother’s account of his father’s death in 1947. He sets out to dismantle the wall of silence she had erected, and discover more.

His sister discourages him, sensing that disturbing family secrets might be uncovered, and his German-born wife seeks to distance herself from his quest - she is scared she will be forced to confront painful memories of her wartime flight from East Prussia and her post-war childhood.

Mark’s quest leads to a transformative conclusion in Germany, against the background of the country’s reunification ceremonies in 1990.

David Evered is retired, following a career in academic medicine and research, and is a keen amateur historian.

This is his second novel and it will be released on September 28, costing £10.99. The ISBN is 9781836283638. For more information visit https://troubador.co.uk/