A Ruthless Need by Catherine Cookson

This story is about how war changes people. It's set in World War 2 and interspersed with research as you'd expect, but really about people, love and complicated relationships. Class wars. Lost love. Sorrow and heartache. People changing and upsetting the balance. There are beautifully intricate descriptions of character's actions - not described as happy or sad, but how they act when happy or sad (poise, facial expression). This isn't something I do in my writing, but I would like to learn because it's all about emotion for me and how to convey it in beautiful prose.