Sharon Johnston, wife of Governor General David Johnston, recounts the struggles of veterans adjusting to life in Canada after the Great War in her DEBUT novel. Clara Durling is a British widow of the First World War who arrives in Canada as the new superintendent of the Lethbridge Hospital, just as wounded soldiers are streaming home. Lily Parsons is a young widowed teacher from Nova Scotia who ends up in the same city, managing a brothel called The Last Post. Set against the backdrop of union organizers, amorous bachelors, gamblers, drinkers, and prostitutes, the lives of these two women unexpectedly intertwine.