22 Britannia Road
By (Author) Amanda Hodgkinson
Penguin Books Ltd
Penguin Books Ltd
3rd January 2012
2nd February 2012
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
823.92
Paperback
400
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 24mm
267g
A family survived the war - but can they survive the peace In war we sometimes lose ourselves . . . It is 1946 and Silvana and eight-year-old Aurek board a ship that will take them from Poland to England. Silvana has not seen her husband Janusz in six years, but, they are assured, he has made them a home in Ipswich. However, after living wild in the forests for years, carrying a terrible secret, all Silvana knows is that she and Aurek are survivors. Everything else is lost. While Janusz, a Polish soldier who has criss-crossed Europe during the war, hopes his family will help put his own dark past behind him. But the war and the years apart will always haunt each of them unless they together confront what they were compelled to do to survive.
The characters are so convincing and the writing's so unshowily accomplished that it soon becomes something gripping. An admirable debut * Daily Mail *
[A] powerful debut * Sunday Times Culture Magazine *
A most accomplished first novel. Powerful story-telling and entirely convincing in its evocation of post-war England. Very good * Penelope Lively *
Keep your Kleenex handy reading 22 Britannia Road * Grazia *
Convincing and touchingly portrayed * Independent on Sunday *
Lose yourself in this beautiful tragic tale * Stylist *
A riveting historical novel, set in post-WWII England, about a Polish couple reunited after enduring - and committing - crimes of love and war. * O, the Oprah Magazine *
An affecting story, extremely well told * The Times *
A stark and beautiful book, alive to the compromises, deceptions and passions that traumatic situations can demand from the most circumspect of people * Marie Claire *
A haunting debut that eschews sensationalism and unfurls with quiet delicacy * Easy Living *
[An] ambitious debut * Financial Times *
Riveting, luminous * The New York Times Book Review *
Amanda Hodgkinson was born in Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset and grew up in Essex and Suffolk. She currently lives in south-west France with her husband and two daughters. This is her first novel.