THE AGE LIST: A Novel of 1918

Spring, 1918. Britain has raised the military service age to fifty-one. Thomas Bell is fifty. For decades, Thomas has been the man people ask when timber splits, work stalls, or a decision has to be made. Then his own name goes onto the age list. Called from a Leicester packing works into the British Army, Thomas is sent into the vast support system behind the Western Front - a world of depots, rail sidings, damaged cases, delayed orders, and men young enough to be his sons who know the rules better than he does. A wrong mark on a case can send stores down the wrong line. An order that arrives late can matter as much as one given badly. At home, Martha and their children keep moving without him. Letters cross. Decisions are made before his advice arrives. And as the war enters its final months, Thomas has to learn when experience should lead, when local knowledge should, and how to come home to a life that has not stood still. THE AGE LIST is a character-driven historical novel about work, marriage, duty, and an ordinary family living through the final months of the First World War.