Title: RestlessAuthor: William Boyd
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 324
Edition: Hardcover
William Boyd's Restless, a 2006 Costa Novel Award Winner, is a compelling thriller story about a Russian born woman who worked for British Secret Service during the times of WWII. The story sways back and forth between Eva's career as a spy in 1930s Paris and Ruth's life as a single mom in 1970s England. Sally Gilmartin, a 66 year old Russian emigré leads a reclusive life in a cottage house in Middle Ashton, England tending to her garden and enjoying weekend trips from her daughter Ruth and grandson Jochen. Restless and ever watchful of her neighborhood, Sally feels paranoid that someone is trying to kill her. One day she makes a shocking revelation to Ruth saying her real name was Eva Delectorskaya and she seeks Ruth's help in finding Lucas, her former boss. When Sally hands out a manuscript titled "The Story of Eva Delectorskaya", Ruth finds her mother's secret past to be quite astonishing and initially deludes herself by thinking that her mother was probably going senile. But, as the story unfolds it turns out that Lucas Romer, a handsome Englishman persuades Eva (alias Sally) to join British Secret Service (BSS) after her brother Kolia was murdered during one of the undercover operations. Eva soon learns the tricks of the trade and adeptly carries out several clandestine intelligence operations in Belgium, Holland and US. The BSS team operates stealthily in Europe and US with the sole intent of posing German as a serious threat and heighten America's fears and allure them into the World War. When Eva comes perilously close to getting herself killed during one of the operations, she flees back to England with a gnawing fear that someone has betrayed her. Back in England, she adopts a new identity to conceal her past. The story gains momentum as Ruth joins Sally in her final mission to find Lucas Romer. The author has crafted the story with a great imagination and flair and wraps it all up with an unusual twist at the end.
A real page-turner!
My Rating: 4.7/5
3 comments:
Wow, Chitts, that sounds like quite a story! I will have to remember the title and anytime I feel like a thriller, that's the one I am going to get!
I see you have just completed "In The COuntry of Men"- I have been aching to read it. Can't wait to find out what you think of it.
This one sounds like a fun read. It's now on my wish list. Thanks for the review!
@lotus - Thanks for the comments. I will do the review of 'In the Country of Men' soon.
@literary feline - Thanks for visiting! Looks like you have a great blog and wonderful reviews! I noticed that you have "Memory Keeper's daughter" in your TBR list. I do want to read it too. Not sure when I will be able to get to it though.
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