October 1918: Germany is suing for peace, terms for an armistice are being negotiated between the several capitals, all U- boats have meanwhile been ordered home from patrol. Among them is U81, commanded by Otto von Mettendorff: he's young, dynamic, already approaching the status of an 'Ace', and is infatuated with a new girlfriend who works not far from Wilhelmshaven, to which port U81 is now returning. However, U81 is 'holed' by a destroyer and sent to the bottom of forty fathoms of English sea. Meanwhile in London, Anne Laurie, a young war widow now being courted by an American naval officer, and by virtue of her fluent German employed in the Intelligence Division of the Royal navy, learns of Otto's death. It jolts memories of a pre-war weekend in Berlin in the summer of 1913, the genesis of a compulsive story of two magnetic people torn apart by global conflict. STARK REALITIES is a grippingly authentic First World war adventure.