The Deserter

"The Deserter" is a multilayered story about a young man, Wainwright, who is called up to the Great War but decides instead to desert. It is not that he is a coward, but he cannot identify with the cause of the Great War. He goes into hiding in the best possible place he can think of … and all seems to be going well. But then, one day, he meets Emma and falls in love. Suddenly he has a cause which he does believe in … somebody worth fighting for. Wainwright suddenly finds himself engaged in his own personal "Great War" and fighting just as formidable an enemy as the Germans. But like in the Great War outside, Wainwright's is a bitter victory.