Islands of Silence

England, 1914. Alec Marquand, starting out on a career in archaeology, visits a remote Scottish island. Here he encounters a mysterious and beautiful young woman who intrigues and bewitches him. But Fate intervenes with the outbreak of the First World War. Alec knows enough about human history to believe that war is folly, but despite his conscientious-objector status, he is pressed into the King's service as a medic and, as bad luck would have it, ends up on the beach at Gallipoli. 'Islands of Silence' is the haunting new novel that tells Marquand's story. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize for The Industry of Souls Martin Booth has written more than a dozen novels, and his work had been translated into over fifteen languages. Hiroshima Joe (1986) sold more than 350,000 copies. Booth has also written several non-fiction books including The Doctor, The Detective and Arthur Conan Doyle, a biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Magick Life: The Life of Aleister Crowley (both Hodder & Stoughton) and Opium: A History (Simon & Schuster) and The Triads (Grafton Books).