Random Harvest

Summary

Originally published in 1941, James Hilton’s groundbreaking classic—the first-ever New York Times bestseller to address PTSD—follows the unraveling of a World War I veteran as buried memories threaten his comfortable post-war life.

From the bestselling author of Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr. Chips—who also earned an Oscar for his screenwriting during Hollywood’s Golden Age—Random Harvest is a moving account of the trauma of war, its power to disrupt, and the courage required to find redemption in the face of the most overwhelming circumstances.

Charles Rainier’s family feared him lost along with so many of Britain’s youth during the Great War. But two years after he was reported missing in action, he appears in a Liverpool hospital with no memory of the time that has passed. Rainier marries and embarks on a life of relative success, but he still can’t recall his time on the battlefield—until the first bombs of the Second World War begin to fall.

Suddenly, his memories flood back. Now, recollections of a violent battlefield, a German prison, and a passionate affair all threaten to fracture the peaceful life he has worked so hard to create.