CBR4 #59 Small Wars - Sadie Jones

Sadie Jones, the award-winning and internationally bestselling author of The Outcast, returns with an ambitious, richly imagined novel that confirms her place in the literary firmament. A passionate and beautifully written tale of personal loss in the midst of war in late 1950s Cyprus, Small Wars raises important questions that are just as relevant today. What happens when everything a man believes in — the army, his country, his marriage — begins to crumble? Hal Treherne is a young British soldier on the brink of a brilliant career. Transferred to Cyprus to defend the colony, Hal takes his wife, Clara, and their daughters with him. But Hal is pulled into atrocities that take him further from Clara, a betrayal that is only one part of a shocking personal crisis to come. 

I read Jones' latest Uninvited Guests earlier this year and I wasn't thrilled over the story, but I had put this book on my TBR based on a recommendation from another book blogger.  I'm glad I gave Jones' another chance, because I enjoyed this book more.

I didn't know much about England's "war" in Cypress/Greece in the 1950s so I enjoyed the historical aspects of the book.  The relationship between Clara and Hal is sweet and timeless.  Jones' paints a good portrait of how war impacts more than the soldiers, but their families as well.

Jones' is a good storyteller and left me as the reader invested in the characters, even though some of the minor characters that were part of the base in Cypress disappear in the later half of the book. I was frustrated at times with Hal because of his hot and cold emotions towards Claire.  Overall I enjoyed this book and I would recommend it.