Borders
Published on 5. March 2015
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-0-85705-306-0 (ISBN)
Description
Robert Junior never knew the father he was named for, an American G.I. who was captured during the Battle of the Bulge and fell briefly into the arms of a Belgian nurse.
Growing up with his mother in the lush forests of the Ardennes, Robert turns for guidance to his godfather, Markus Hebel, a Belgian who served in the German army in Russia.
Breaking the silence around his painful past, Markus speaks of the consequences and madness of war - of the son he lost at Stalingrad and the courage of the men who tried to free the trapped German soldiers with a desperate charge across the frozen steppe.
In so doing, Markus reveals a secret he has kept since the war, and a doubt that has gnawed at him for twenty years. Did he, a lowly radio operator, waste a chance to save an entire army from annihilation?
Growing up with his mother in the lush forests of the Ardennes, Robert turns for guidance to his godfather, Markus Hebel, a Belgian who served in the German army in Russia.
Breaking the silence around his painful past, Markus speaks of the consequences and madness of war - of the son he lost at Stalingrad and the courage of the men who tried to free the trapped German soldiers with a desperate charge across the frozen steppe.
In so doing, Markus reveals a secret he has kept since the war, and a doubt that has gnawed at him for twenty years. Did he, a lowly radio operator, waste a chance to save an entire army from annihilation?
Reviews / Votes
With its mix of vivid characters, real and fictional, struggling to make sense of the excesses of war and its aftermath, this is a strange but compelling novel. I highly recommend it -- Rupert Godsal * Country Life * An iconic Norwegian writer -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent * A great European novel -- Terje Eidsvag * Adresseavisen * You cannot put this book down -- Kjell Olaf Jensen, * Dagsavisen *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Quercus Publishing
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 231 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
526 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-85705-306-0 (9780857053060)
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Persons
Roy Jacobsen has twice been nominated for the Nordic Council's Literary Award: for Seierherrene in 1991, and Frost in 2003, and in 2009 he was shortlisted for the Dublin Impac Award for his novel The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles. The Unseen, the first in a trilogy, was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2017