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Set against the harrowing backdrop of the First World War, it tells the story of Stephen Wraysford, a young English officer hardened by the horrors of the battlefield. Interwoven with Stephen’s experiences of war is his passion for the unhappily married Isabelle.

Birdsong was selected for the first edition of Radio 4’s Bookclub in 1998. It has been adapted for the theatre and most recently in 2012 it was broadcast as a television series on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.

Birdsong is the second in a trilogy of novels set in France. The first is The Girl at the Lion d’Or, a moving love story set in 1936, and the third is Charlotte Gray, which tells the story of a young Scottish woman who becomes involved with the French Resistance during WW2. Cate Blanchett starred in the film adaptation in 2001.

Among Faulks’ other novels are Human Traces and Engleby, which came in 2005 and 2007 respectively. Both have a psychological theme. The first tells the story of two Victorian psychiatrists who set up an asylum in Austria; and the second is set in 1970s Cambridge and takes a much darker turn when Faulks’ unreliable narrator Mike Engleby develops an unsettling interest in fellow student Jennifer Arkland.

More recently Faulks has turned his hand to a selection of iconic characters. In 2008 he was invited to create a new adventure for 007 when he wrote Devil May Care. And in 2013 with Jeeves and the Wedding Bells Faulks created a new and witty story for PG Wodehouse’s eponymous duo.

Faulks was The Independent’s first literary editor, and later became the deputy editor of The Independent on Sunday. He is a regular captain on Radio 4’s literary quiz The Write Stuff. Faulks was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1993 and appointed CBE for services to literature in 2002.

Elizabeth Allard, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Readings Unit