I love these books so much. I read regeneration the summer before I started grad school and then never had the time or energy to continue the series. The second book does have a slower start and it took me 5-6 tries to get interested. Normally I wouldn't try a book that many times but I knew my mental health during grad school was effecting my interest in reading for fun. When I started it this last time I was almost immediately interested and finished it in just a few days. The books take place in world war one britain. The first book follows the recovery of a group of soldiers who are being treated for shell shock in craiglockhart war hospital in scotland. Some of the characters are real people (sassoon, rivers, etc) but the main character billy is fictional. Some of the things discribed in this book are gruesome as hell so beware. The second book follows billy after he is released from the hospital to work in intelligence for the gov. My last year at ball state I took a class on britain during the world wars and for one of my assignments I created a diary of a man being treated for shell shock who was at this hospital with some of these same people so these were so fun for me to read. The second book focuses more heavily on the politics around that time (suffragettes, igbtq rights, the war obvi) and I think some background knowledge of this period of british history