“A barn burner of a novel…A haunting fictionalization of a pivotal episode in a hellish war.” ―Dennis Drabelle, The Washington Post
“No Man’s Land is a page-turner, an opera, a costume drama to binge-watch. Simon Tolkien knows how to keep a story moving, and he does it well.” ―NPR
“An epic coming-of-age story…thoroughly enjoyable.” ―Shelf Awareness
“[Tolkien’s] most ambitious work yet…Adam makes an attractive hero and his story has more than enough colour and energy to keep us reading.” ―The Sunday Times (London)
“Visceral…an unforgettable paean and a gripping war story.” ―Booklist (starred review)
Through divergent experiences of working-class poverty, country house privilege, and the trenches of WWI, a boy comes of age in a rapidly changing world in an epic novel by the author of The Palace at the End of the Sea and The Room of Lost Steps.
London 1910. Adam Raine is a boy cursed by misfortune. Following his mother’s tragic death, he moves north to Scarsdale, a hard-living coal-mining town, where his father finds work as a union organizer. But soon escalating tensions between the miners and their employer, Sir John Scarsdale, explode with terrible consequences. In the aftermath, Adam is taken into the Scarsdale family home, where Sir John’s son Brice is his rival for the love of the parson’s beautiful daughter. As Brice plots Adam’s downfall, the country teeters on the edge of a war that will change everyone’s lives forever.
From the gruelling workhouses of London to the suffocating Yorkshire mines, from the privilege and repression of an Edwardian country estate to the explosive trenches on the Western Front, Adam’s journey from boy to man unfolds against the backdrop of a society violently entering the modern world.
NO MAN’S LAND is an epic coming-of-age novel about overcoming adversity through the power of love, hope, friendship, and an unyielding refusal to surrender. First published almost 10 years ago, NO MAN’S LAND has now been revised and repackaged and will be released on November 11, 2025 (Lake Union).
To celebrate the release of NO MAN’S LAND, we are hosting a virtual book tour throughout the month of November featuring this stellar list of influencers who will share reviews, spotlights, excerpts and giveaways. We hope you will follow along:
Monday, November 3 Book Girl Brown Reviews
Tuesday, November 4 Dealing With Books
Wednesday, November 5 Reading for the Seasons
Thursday, November 6 Love My Dane Dolly
Friday, November 7 WBTB Book Reviews
Saturday, November 8 Nissa the Bookworm
Sunday, November 9 Reading is My Remedy
Monday, November 10 Bethany Buried In Books
Tuesday, November 11 Gwendalyn Books
Wednesday, November 12 A Needle In My Bookstack
Thursday, November 13 Tammy Reads 62
Friday, November 14 The Caffeinated Reader
Sunday, November 16 Meow Skin Book Skins
Monday, November 17 A Novel Account
Tuesday, November 18 Lexijava
Wednesday, November 19 Love My Books 2020
Thursday, November 20 Nurse Bookie
Friday, November 21 The Page Ladies
Saturday, November 22 We Break For Books
Sunday, November 23 Linda’s Book Obsession
Monday, November 24 Sarah’s Bookish Reviews
Monday, November 24 What Is That Book About
Tuesday, November 25 Night Shades Journal
Wednesday, November 26 Subakka Bookstuff
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