Roy and Ennis settle their differences with a mighty punch-up that cements an unlikely friendship between them. When Roy joins the army to fight in France as an officer, he persuades Ennis to come with him as a private. Powers writes about violence and its impact on both perpetrators and victims in a way that feels unsettlingly authoritative. Various characters, including a civil war veteran, punctuate self-aggrandising Roy’s delusions about warfare and loss with memorably gritty wisdom. This isn’t limited to Ennis: characters have a habit of doing things that are dramatically striking, but psychologically far-fetched.