His wifes comment is only partly true, but Jamess life as a farmer and a businessman in Gloucestershire is a far cry from the war-torn streets of Warsaw, where he spent his boyhood as Janek Zagorski.

This elegant and insightful novel moves with ease from Poland to post-war London and the English countryside, tracing the difficulties James encounters early in his marriage, his concerns about the English and their apparent lack of inner life and his bravery in making a new start with his wife and daughter.

Disaster arrives on his doorstep in Gloucestershire, and further away in Poland,...