Way Through the Wood

A psychological study of marriage, loyalty and justice, A WAY THROUGH THE WOOD is a remarkable post-war novel.

''A superb storyteller'' SUNDAY TIMES ''I''d place him up there with Graham Greene'' Philippa Gregory

''Balchin writes about timeless things, the places in the heart'' Ruth Rendell

''Balchin has been absurdly overlooked for too long'' Julian Fellowes

James Manning is perfectly content. He has a successful life as a businessman in the city, a bright young thing of a wife, Jill, and an idyllic home in the countryside, where he is a local magistrate. The only fly in the ointment as far as he can see is the ''Honbill'' - the Honourable William Stephen Fitzharding Bule, a gentleman with too much time on his hands.

When a young man is knocked off his bicycle and subsequently dies, James is sure that the culprit is Bule - after all, he saw a scratch on his car the day of the accident and the car matches the description to a T. But events take an unexpected turn when James discovers that it was really Jill driving the car that day, and he is torn between obligations of class, loyalty and justice.

A WAY THROUGH THE WOOD was the inspiration for SEPARATE LIES, a 2005 British drama film adapted by Academy Award-winning writer Julian Fellowes and starring Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson and Rupert Everett.