In the 1940s, the wife of a war prisoner lives in desperate loneliness and fear on an isolated farmstead. She encounters a young farmboy completely out of his element as a soldier, and the two carve out a relationship in defiance of the war around them. His decision to escape the military and to dress as his lover's sister to avoid detection eventually leads to tragedy. Originally published in 1970, The Triple Echo was Bates's last significant novella and took twenty-five years to complete. Known in the United States as Soldiers in Skirts, this is a beautiful, reissued edition of the work that inspired the 1972 film adaptation starring Oliver Reed, Brian Deacon, and Glenda Jackson.