
A Country Road, A Tree
Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Memorial Prize for Historical Fiction
Jo Baker(Author)
Black Swan (Publisher)
Published on 9. February 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-0-552-77952-4 (ISBN)
Description
BY THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LONGBOURN
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2017
SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE 2017
'Skilful . . . daring . . . extraordinary' The Guardian
'A fascinating fictional account of Samuel Beckett's wartime years' IAN RANKIN
'Beautifully written, empathetic and unflinching, it is very, very good' Daily Mail
'Marvellous, spare, moving' FRANCIS SPUFFORD
'Insightful . . . beautifully paced . . . authentic' The Irish Times
Paris, 1939: The pavement rumbles with the footfall of Nazi soldiers marching along the Champs Elysees. A young writer, recently arrived from Ireland to make his mark, smokes one last cigarette with his lover before the city they know is torn apart. Soon, he will put is own life and those of his loved ones in mortal danger by joining the Resistance...
Spies, artists, deprivation, danger and passion: this is a story of life at the edges of human experience, and of how one man came to translate it all into art.
Sunday Express Book of the Month
Praise for Jo Baker's LONGBOURN:
'Intoxicating' Guardian
'Engrossing' Sunday Times
'Audacious' New York Times
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2017
SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE 2017
'Skilful . . . daring . . . extraordinary' The Guardian
'A fascinating fictional account of Samuel Beckett's wartime years' IAN RANKIN
'Beautifully written, empathetic and unflinching, it is very, very good' Daily Mail
'Marvellous, spare, moving' FRANCIS SPUFFORD
'Insightful . . . beautifully paced . . . authentic' The Irish Times
Paris, 1939: The pavement rumbles with the footfall of Nazi soldiers marching along the Champs Elysees. A young writer, recently arrived from Ireland to make his mark, smokes one last cigarette with his lover before the city they know is torn apart. Soon, he will put is own life and those of his loved ones in mortal danger by joining the Resistance...
Spies, artists, deprivation, danger and passion: this is a story of life at the edges of human experience, and of how one man came to translate it all into art.
Sunday Express Book of the Month
Praise for Jo Baker's LONGBOURN:
'Intoxicating' Guardian
'Engrossing' Sunday Times
'Audacious' New York Times
Reviews / Votes
Skilful . . . daring . . . an extraordinary story * The Guardian * [It is] the unexpected Beckett that is on show here. Baker pays tribute to a man who joined the French Resistance, narrowly escaped the Gestapo, fled south on foot and went into hiding, and was eventually awarded the Croix de Guerre * The Times * A fascinating fictional account of Samuel Beckett's wartime years * IAN RANKIN * Beautifully written, empathetic and unflinching, it is very, very good * Daily Mail * vivid and well-wrought * Times Literary Supplement * Insightful . . . beautifully paced . . . authentic * The Irish Times * In this worthy successor to Longbourn, she [Baker] skillfully captures Beckett's world, the rhythms of his bare-bones prose, and the edginess of his point of view. * Publishers Weekly * Taking its title from Beckett's most famous play, Waiting for Godot, Baker's historical drama deftly explores the psyche of one of the greatest writers of the Twentieth Century. * Booklist * Perfectly captures the deprivation, despair and constant creeping fear of an occupied people. * Red Magazine Must-Read of the Month * This exquisitely crafted novel re-creates the World War II peregrinations of Samuel Beckett and the volatile Frenchwoman who became his life's companion * Oprah Magazine *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Transworld Publishers Ltd
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
277 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-552-77952-4 (9780552779524)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Jo Baker
A Country Road, A Tree
Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Memorial Prize for Historical Fiction
E-Book
05/2016
1st Edition
Transworld Digital
€8.99
Available for download
Person
JO BAKER is the author of the acclaimed and bestselling LONGBOURN and A COUNTRY ROAD, A TREE. Her latest novel, THE BODY LIES, is a thrilling contemporary novel that explores violence against women in fiction but is also a disarming story of sexual politics. Jo Baker lives with her family in Lancashire.