Author:Stefan Chwin
A moving portrait of people in transition - between old and new, life and death. Germans flee the besieged city of Danzig in 1945. Poles driven out of eastern regions by the Russians move into the homes hastily abandoned by their previous inhabitants. In an area of the city graced with beech trees and a stately cathedral, the stories of old and new residents intertwine: Hanemann, a German and a former professor of anatomy, who chooses to stay in Danzig after the mysterious death of his lover; the Polish family of the narrator, driven out of Warsaw; and a young Carpathian woman who no longer has a country, her cheerful nature concealing deep wounds. Through his brilliantly defined characters, stunning evocation of place, and memorable description of remnants of a world that was German but survives in Polish households, Chwin has created a reality that is beyond destruction.
Much of Death in Danzig's intriguing, Kleist-haunted eeriness derives from its fascination with objects, often promoted to the role of surrogate characters...It is a mark of Chwin's expertise that, while the novel figurative superstructures never quite recede into the Baltic fog, its real interest lies in the teeming human traffic below.
—— DJ Taylor, Independent'A richly expressive novel of enforced cultural change in postwar Danzig...A beautiful book, and nothing about it is more sumptuously and expressively beautiful than Philip Boehm's translation'
—— GuardianDreamlike, mournful novel.
—— Catherine Taylor , The GuardianAn emotional, funny, stunning novel which swings with wide smoothnes s between joy and bleakness, personal lives and history...it's lyrical and angry, satirical and earnest
—— ObserverA wonderful epic novel...it has made him a name to conjure with. Both on the large and the small scale it is an absorbing and memorable book...the sweep, invention and warmth of the novel carries one effortlessly along
—— Derwent May , The TimesHypnotic...a vast tapestry woven in tiny, colourful, intricate detail...a graphic and moving commentary on the futility of war. This magical book stayed in my head long after I had finished it
—— Marian KeyesCaptain Corelli's Mandolin achieves that rare feat of saying something new about war...fusing with remarkable felicity the cosmic and the tragic, the lyrical and the epic... And without offering easy answers, it poses difficult questions about love and suspicion, trust and betrayal, faith and despair, creativity and destruction
—— André Brink , Times Literary SupplementLouis de Bernières is in the direct line that runs through Dickens and Evelyn Waugh...he has only to look into his world, one senses, for it to rush into reality, colours and touch and taste
—— Evening StandardA master of haunted realism. His best novel yet. He deals with death and love and tragedy... This is a novel to be prized
—— Daily MailCaptain Corelli's Mandolin is a wonderful, hypnotic novel of fabulous scope and tremendous, iridescent charm - and you can quote me
—— Joseph HellerAn enthralling tale of endurance and passion, full of emotional intelligence
—— Charles Spencer , Daily ExpressThrilling
—— Financial TimesThe Suffragette movement and pre-war country cricket might seem an odd couple for a novel but Anthony Quinn marries them perfectly in a nostalgic and compelling tale whose themes of love and friendship on and off the pitch will appeal to lovers of romance and cricket alike.
—— The CricketerTrench warfare is vividly described: the agonizing wait for dawn, the despairing bravery of those going 'over the top', the futility, the waste, the sadness. Anthony Quinn tells this part of his tale faultlessly, and without a cliché... poetic.
—— Mary Blanche Ridge , The TabletNot just an exhilarating love story... a bold, impressive novel
—— Waitrose WeekendWith crisp prose and evocative description, Anthony Quinn's second novel embodies early 20th century Britain with aplomb and exhumes a political plight that still has great relevance
—— Eastern Daily PressSet at the same time as E. M. Forster's novels, this intelligent antidote to Downton Abbey is written with wit, narrative craft and elegant prose.
—— Daily Telegraph (Five stars)Quinn’s novel concerns the stalling romance between a suffragette and a cricketer, set amid war and middle-class Edwardian mores. This chalk-and-cheese couple and their stifling environment are equally well crafted
—— Holly Kyte , Sunday TelegraphThe characters are subtly drawn and the period touches, particularly the sporting passages, have an authentic ring
—— Simon Shaw , Daily MailIs a heartbreaking, riveting portrait of modern Israel. A family story, a rich character study, a story of war. Unmissable.
—— Erica Wagner , The Times, Christmas round upA work of art
—— Rachel Cooke , New Statesman, Christmas round upFirst-rate writing about the craziness of modern-war.
—— Simon Schama , Daily Telegraph, Christmas round upBreathtaking skill...an extraordinary emotional charge.
—— Colm Toibin , Guardian, Christmas round upDavid Grossman laid bare the flayed soul of Israel
—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent, Christmas round upArticulates the pain and complexity of being born in Israel so powerfully that it will unquestionably be studied by future generations.
—— Nick Barley , Herald, Christmas round upMagnificent
—— Katherine Duncan-Jones , Times Literary Supplement, Christmas round upOften impressive, sometimes touching
—— Neal Ascherson , London Review of BooksHe is the finest living novelist I have read. His work is visceral and clear-headed. Though I loved Franzen's Freedom, Grossman's novel is better
—— Stella Tillyard , ObserverTo define David Grossman's masterly new novel as the ultimate anti-war oeuvre would not do it justice...To the End of the Land is richer and more complex than a chronicle of war. It is an intimate portrayal of a woman and mother, Ora, who has been compared to Flaubert's Emma or Tolstoy's Anna...With characters with whom the reader can empathise, a powerful if disturbing theme and an element of suspense and the unknown, Grossman's novel, while not easy to read, is well worth the effort
—— Emma Klein , TabletFurther proof the Very Long Novel is in rude health with David Grossman's fine book about the seemingly endless conflict between Israel and Palestine
—— MetroMovingly evokes the strains of war and peace in one Israeli household
—— Theo Tait , Sunday TimesGrossman's soaring, wrenching journey through Israel ... grapples with the largest of themes: memory and identity, community and nationhood. Yet through its picaresque plot, it always remains a mother's story and a family romance... Grossman aims high, digs deep, and returns from inner and outer voyages with darkly glittering jewels of insight
—— IndependentAn intimate and national epic
—— Colin Waters , HeraldA stunning, powerful novel
—— TelegraphTo the End of the Land is a novel of relationships: personal, moral and political: all reviewed against a muted landscape of pain, threat and hostility... Grossman list his youngest son Uri in the final hours of the second Lebanon war and his personal connection to the trauma of conflict adds weight to this substantial work
—— James Urquhart , Financial Times