Suddenly I saw how much Dad coming home mattered to Mum. She needed him to share with. Pa helped but it wasn't the same, and he needed time to himself as well. I saw that Jack needed Dad home to save his life from being something he hated. And Martha needed him to say she was doing the right thing. I was the only one who didn't need Dad but perhaps I would when I got used to him.' Dad is finally on his way home from The Great War. Twelve-year-old Nell barely remembers him but when the pneumonic influenza enters their lives threatening Dad's return she begins to understand the gap in the family his absence has created. This is one family's experience of the end of the war, a time of hope that turned into a time of testing.