Cicely Hamilton is, if one thinks about it, the author of one of the great European novels William – An  Englishman. She was also a deeply convinced suffragette and pacifist. The quote on the flap is about the moment when William and Griselda emerge from their honeymoon cottage (in Belgium) to be confronted with war on their doorstep, and are taken prisoner. ‘So they trotted down the valley, humiliated, dishevelled, indignant, but still incredulous – while their world crumbled about them and Europe thundered and bled.’