The Repercussions by Catherine Hall, £12.99

LAKE District-born Catherine Hall has already gained a literary reputation through her novels Days of Grace and The Proof of Love, both of which attracted critical acclaim. The latter also won this year's Green Carnation Prize for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) literature.

Her third novel, therefore, has a fair bit to live up to.

It tells the story of Jo, a war photographer who has returned to England from her latest assignment in Afghanistan "to restore equilibrium to her chaotic life".

Taking the the form of a confessional to her ex-girlfriend Susie, the novel weaves Jo's traumatic Afghan experiences with extracts from the diary kept in the First World War by her great-grandmother, who nursed wounded Indian soldiers in Brighton Pavilion.

Catherine says she drew some inspiration for the story from her own time working in documentary film making and international peace-building. In Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo she was profoundly affected by events she witnessed, including seeing rooms full of skeletons, some still bound by the wire that bound their wrists before they were massacred.

Although clearly disturbing for Catherine, the real-life experience helped ensureThe Repercussions is an authentically engrossing read.

ALLAN TUNNINGLEY