 The son of a wealthy Yorkshire industrialist, his young wife – also his friend since childhood – has been killed early in the war when on a trip to London preparing for the birth of their first child.She dies in a fire following an air-raid, introducing a particular bitterness in Boden and a desire to use fire to fight the Germans.Michael Rhodes is a special officer who is classed as unfit to serve at sea due to his colour-blindness.