The forest of the hanged: a novel

A World War I soldier is torn between his duty, his country and his conscience in this work of 'classic war fiction' (Books Monthly).

When the First World War broke out, Apostol Bologa left his home in Romania and joined the Austro-Hungarian army with grand visions of battle, glory and honour.

Instead, the young officer finds himself serving on a near-perfunctory tribunal that sentences deserters and other reprobates to hanging in a small dark forest just behind the Eastern Front.

At first Bologa performs his duties with staunch military bearing, but the weight of the dead slowly begins to toll on his mind and spirit.