Spoils Of War (Pontypridd)

Part of the Hearts of Gold series

It is 1946, and as the soldiers return to civilian life after five long years of war, not all reunions are happy ones.

Bethan John has been loyal to her husband, Andrew, but finds it hard to readjust to domesticity. And her lingering feelings for Colonel David Ford, the US officer billeted on her during the war, only serve to increase the tension.

Tony Ronconi returns to Pontypridd engaged to Nina von Stettin, a German refugee. But when Nina finds herself in a community united by their hatred of all things German, and looks to her new husband for support, she finds herself wondering whether there is some truth behind the rumours that he married her just to spite his family.

Charlie Raschenko, trying to rebuild his life with his wife, Alma, receives astonishing news: his first wife, Masha, who disappeared in Stalinist Russia, is alive. So Charlie must choose between his past and his present.

And as the people of Pontypridd struggle to rebuild their lives in a world irrevocably changed by the brutality of war, it becomes clear that the end of the war is only the beginning of another, more personal struggle.

The Weave was on the verge of winning a decisive victory after a milennia of war, thanks to their new allies from earth. But then the birdlike Wais scholar Lalelang found evidence that Humans might not adapt well to peace. Researching further, she uncovered a secret group of telepathic Humans called the Core, who were on the verge of starting another war, and then eliminating Lalelang. At the last moment, she was saved by a lone Core commander. He took a chance on her intelligence and compassion, and gambled the fate of Humanity on the possibility that together, they could find an alternative to a galaxy-wide bloodbath....