Winner of the Costa Book of the Year Award 2016

After signing up for the US army in the 1850s, aged barely seventeen, Thomas McNulty and his brother-in-arms, John Cole, fight in the Indian Wars and the Civil War.

Having both fled terrible hardships, their days are now vivid and filled with wonder, despite the horrors they both see and are complicit in.

Then when a young Indian girl crosses their path, the possibility of lasting happiness seems within reach, if only they can survive.