Erfurt, Germany in 1944 is a quiet place. And everyone has their part to play in the war effort. This is the story of one young man who could not. This is the story of Ernst, a young German man who gets his first job working at the prestigious firm of Topf & Sons. It's a desperate time and good work is rare, so when this opportunity arrives, he is grateful for it and beholden to the men in the tailored suits who sport their allegiance to the party with pride. This job represents a chance for him to support his beautiful wife Etta, and build a home in the beautiful town of Erfurt. But what starts as a draftsman post quickly escalates into a role working on the designs for an oven that has a capability that has never yet been asked for. The client that Topf & Sons work for? The SS. And the story Ernst is told? That a typhus epidemic has caused this need for this new equipment. A brutal and brilliant entry into a life we shudder to examine, a novel that charts the rise of a young man...

A novel that hits right to the heart of fans of Cold Mountain and True Grit. Set in 1837, this is the completely compelling story of 12-year-old orphan Thomas Walker and his treacherous journey home through the wide open lands of America. 'I, to this day, hold to only one truth: if a man chooses to carry a gun he will get shot.My father agreed to carry twelve.' Young Tom Walker cannot believe his luck when his father allows him to accompany him on the road, selling Samuel Colt's newly-invented revolver. They will leave behind the depression and disease that is gripping 1830's New York to travel the country together. Still only twelve years old, Tom is convinced that he is now a man. Fate, it seems, thinks so too ... On the road west the towns get smaller, the forests wilder, and the path more unforgiving. A devastating encounter cuts their journey tragically short, and leaves Tom all alone in the...