A Time for Heroes

Book excerpt: War makes heroes of men, but at what price? Sure to enthral fans of Masters of the Air and Fall of Giants, A Time for Heroes is a magnificent, sweeping, three-generation historical epic encompassing both World Wars, about heroism, the romance of aviation and the conflict between fathers and sons. As the twentieth century dawns, Guv Sutro, against his father's will, becomes a pioneer of aviation, a fighter ace on the Western Front during the Great War and a record-breaker between the wars. From his first flight in a primitive glider over the fields of Sussex, helped by the dogged loyalty of his friend Stan Kemp, he charts his ruthless course to fame and adulation. But with the outbreak of World War Two 'the best of Old England' begins to crumble. Guv's son Tim is fighting a more covert war, desperate to shed the burden of his father's reputation, while Tim's childhood companion Will Kemp, the son Guv felt he deserved, is fighting heroically, against overwhelming odds, as a Spitfire pilot. The fates of the men are bound together in the monumental ambitions and terrible tragedies of an age of heroes. What readers are saying about A Time for Heroes 'A beautifully told epic of human love and error. A truly great read' 'Highly entertaining, with great action scenes and moments of gut-wrenching excitement. A very human novel, about people and strife, and survival in extreme circumstances that have universal resonances' '[Frank Barnard] is without doubt the Wilbur Smith of the skies'