The Hero — Paul Almond

Eric Alford, one of the brave but shell-shocked soldiers of WWI, sets out during Canada's Great Depression to find his British sweetheart. He ends up in Australia, where he finally wins ordination as a clergyman. After an emotionally fraught round the world trip, he arrives home in Quebec only to find his traumas growing worse. He continues to battle it as bravely as he did the enemy, causing heart-rending anguish to himself, his loving bride and his only son. Set in the turbulent twenties and thirties, this story of an earlier hero mirrors with horrifying force the PTSD that afflicts our returning troops today, and offers uplifting lessons about the unquenchable human spirit.