This novel was an interesting read. It spanned many years and centred around two very different families who knew each other from when the two man became friend,s while doing their time in service . They were both from very different background,s but looked out for each other. Drummond ( the main man whose family this story is centred around) seemed to be rather under the spell of his best friend. It covers a lot of history including the bomb,s in London (7/7) and also a lot about nuclear attacks. It was a very long novel and did take a while to get in to it but the more you read the more you got in to it. It also cover,s the dynamic,s of a family and how friendship,s can be formed and broken. It also showed how fragile a two family friendship can be and how easily it can be broken when one person passes away. How one person ( in this case Drummond) holds the two families together.