49. BIRDSONG Sebastian Faulks

This epic is the ultimate story of love and war. The story centres on young Englishman Stephen Wraysford, who falls passionately in love with married French woman Isabelle when he is lodging with her family. Cut to six years later and he is an officer on the Western Front, determined to survive the horrors of the Somme. Decades later, his granddaughter traces his turbulent history.