The 1917 Bloodline is in the tradition of Joseph Conrad Graham Greene and Arthur Koestler Alan Grahame is a harddrinking middleaged single father and poet leading a secretive life and escaping from a murky political past His past seems buried until one day on a wild impulse he sends a poem anonymously to Helen head teacher of a local school Soon afterwards his mobile phone rings and he hears a voice from the Cold War How far will Grahame go in honouring old loyalties in post911 Britain How far will Helen go in shaking off her joyless and passionless present