One day at dawn a train reaches the small town of Great Minden, where a large fair is taking place that same day.  But war veteran Peplow hasn't come to celebrate: the man he blames for his son's death is in town - and Peplow wants revenge.  In Great Minden, Peplow meets old acquaintances and new faces.  On his way through the city, he sees the image of a place marked by the Second World War.  The residents of Great Minden all suffer from the world in their own way.  And yet here Peplow finds new hope in the face of his personal catastrophe.
 
In his debut novel, JL Carr paints a portrait of rural Britain and focuses on a group of people searching for redemption.  He allows the narrative movement to oscillate between the characters in this city and condenses the individual strands into a touching novel that retains its fine humor, even when it tells of human abysses.