The Deepening Stream

The book begins by describing Matey Gilbert's childhood in France, growing up in a curiously dysfunctional family. In the second part, she makes a miraculously happy marriage. But it is the third part which tips this book into greatness: it is absolutely extraordinary about life on the home front in France during World War One. In 1915 Matey and her husband make the decision to go and help the French war effort. The description of their life in France is quite simply stunning and one can safely say to anyone reading this – you will never read anything like it, and never forget it.

As the novelist and critic Diana Birchalls wrote to us: ‘This is the best evocation of what domestic life was like in France during WW1 I have ever read’ and it will undoubtedly prove to be the most memorable book on the subject that any Persephone reader has ever read as well.