Devotion
Published on 6. April 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
512 pages
978-0-00-753290-2 (ISBN)
Description
From the bestselling author of My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You and The Heroes' Welcome, Louisa Young's Devotion is a novel of family, love, race and politics set during the electric change of the 1930s.
Tom loves Nenna. Nenna loves her father. Her father loves Mussolini.
Ideals and convictions are not always so clear in the murky years between the end of the First World War and the beginning of the Second. For Tom and Kitty Locke, children of the damaged WW1 generation, visiting their cousin Nenna in Rome is a pure joy. For their adoptive parents Nadine and Riley, though, the ground is still shifting underfoot.
Nobody knew in 1919 that the children they were bearing would be just ripe for the next war in 1939; nobody knew, in 1935, the implications of an Italian Jewish family supporting Mussolini.
Meanwhile Peter Locke and Mabel Zachary have found each other again together in London, itself a city reborn but riddled with its own intolerances. As the heat rises across Europe, voices grow louder and everyone must brace once more to decide what should bring them together, and what must drive them apart.
Tom loves Nenna. Nenna loves her father. Her father loves Mussolini.
Ideals and convictions are not always so clear in the murky years between the end of the First World War and the beginning of the Second. For Tom and Kitty Locke, children of the damaged WW1 generation, visiting their cousin Nenna in Rome is a pure joy. For their adoptive parents Nadine and Riley, though, the ground is still shifting underfoot.
Nobody knew in 1919 that the children they were bearing would be just ripe for the next war in 1939; nobody knew, in 1935, the implications of an Italian Jewish family supporting Mussolini.
Meanwhile Peter Locke and Mabel Zachary have found each other again together in London, itself a city reborn but riddled with its own intolerances. As the heat rises across Europe, voices grow louder and everyone must brace once more to decide what should bring them together, and what must drive them apart.
Reviews / Votes
Praise for DEVOTION:'Young has conjured up another rich historical novel and I longed to know the fate of this tragic cast of friends. These characters demand devotion - they'll get it, too' The Times
'A stirring story of war and its consequences ... tender and convincing. Well-drawn female characters complete an engaging saga' Mail on Sunday
'Anybody who hasn't read her WW1 and postwar trilogy ... should get buying. An absolutely magnificent trilogy ... three volumes is not enough. I NEED to know more ... and sparking such a need is a triumph for a novelist' Bel Mooney
'This moving and vivid historical novel ... cleverly interleaves the personal and the political, portraying the conflicts of loyalty produced by troubled times with great subtlety ... written with real knowledge and affection' Tablet
'Elegantly written and compulsively readable, Devotion manages to be both thrilling and heartfelt - a real treasure of a book' Jami Attenberg
'Young expertly weaves politics, race and loyalty into the family's narrative' Observer
'Powerful and evocative ... a must-read' Woman and Home
'Deeply moving ... a great 20th-century saga' Saga Magazine
'A gorgeously compelling story of family, love and race' Prima Magazine
'A sumptuous portrayal of love and war in fascist Rome' Observer
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
357 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-00-753290-2 (9780007532902)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Louisa Young was born in London and read history at Trinity College, Cambridge. She lives in London with her daughter, with whom she co-wrote the best-selling Lionboy trilogy, and is the author of twelve previous books including the bestselling novel My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You, which was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and was a Richard and Judy Book Club choice, and its acclaimed sequel, The Heroes' Welcome.