Heart of ice – Andrew Miller finds a way to continue in his novels

One Morning Like a Bird
373pp, Sceptre, $16.80
It is 1940 and Japan is at war with China. Yuji Takano clings to the life he has made for himself as a young poet ?the company of his friends, the monthly meetings of the French Club at Monsieur Feneon’s house, the days of writing and contemplation made possible by an allowance from his father, a professor at Tokyo’s elite Imperial Unirsity. But the world is closing in on Yuji. His father is disgraced, his allowance is scrapped and the threat of conscription is coming ever closer.