Boyne’s shattered world of love, war and honour

His novels tackle a range of weighty historical events, from the terrors of the Russian 20th century to the Holocaust. However, his concern is always with fringe figures, outsiders like peasants and children who have no real influence or simply do not understand what they’re caught up in.

The Absolutist, his seventh novel for adults, continues this pattern. Set against the backdrop of the First World War, it tells the story of 21-one-year old Tristan Sadler, a repressed survivor of the needless slaughter in France.