A coming of age story, set in the English Midlands in the 1960s, and Berlin of 1975.
"Goodman writes with flare and panache, and the narrative fizzes along. Goodman's novel soars."- The Times
The Second World War is over, but young Tomas learns that Europe’s wounds have not yet healed.
Discover the 30th anniversary edition of a Whitbread shortlisted novel - available in the U.S. for the first time.
“You come to see [Tomas] is conserving himself deliberately against the old suffering, the tired old guilt of the adults… Simplicity is a great virtue, in novels as elsewhere. After all, it can only be produced from sincerity.” - Penelope Fitzgerald
It’s 1966. Young Tomas is taught by English war veterans, the adults around him haunted by memories of war. He walks the ruins of Coventry with his Gran, the city still rebuilding from the blitz. But his mother is German, and Tomas is torn between two worldviews.
As he nears adulthood Tomas heads to 1970s Berlin. He’s taken in by his enigmatic uncle, a blind, disgraced Nazi soldier. Arm in arm, they explore a drastically changing Berlin. Out in Dresden, a city decimated by Allied firebombs, Tomas finds more family with their hidden stories. This soaring, poignant novel invites readers to explore what we inherit from the wars of our elders, and how we might move on.
