WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARDNATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALISTNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and BOOK OF THE YEAR''Extraordinary . . . a must-read'' Guardian''A masterpiece . . . a classic'' The Times''A stunning achievement'' Sunday Times''Remarkable . . . every line is a defiant assertion of the power of beauty to revivify'' Hilary Mantel''Harrowing, inexplicably beautiful, and utterly, urgently necessary'' Ann PatchettEverywhere John looks, he sees Murph.He flinches when cars drive past. His fingers clasp around the rifle he hasn''t held for months. Wide-eyed strangers praise him as a hero, but he can feel himself disappearing.Back home after a year in Iraq, memories swarm around him: bodies burning in the crisp morning air. Sunlight falling through branches; bullets kicking up dust; ripples on a pond wavering like plucked strings. The promise he made, to a young man''s mother, that her son would be brought home safely.Written with profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on families at home, The Yellow Birds is one of the most haunting, true and powerful novels of our time.A NEW YORK TIMES, INDEPENDENT, TIMES, TLS, EVENING STANDARD, SUNDAY EXPRESS, GUARDIAN, SCOTSMAN, SUNDAY HERALD, IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR