Product Description

A Richard & Judy Book Club Selection

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Daily Mail
'Two strikingly different tales of love and grief are gradually revealed to have more in common than just the tenactiy of both men to cling desperately to the memory of love...a lush, romantic novel'

Sunday Express
'Really is as special as its press suggests...beautifully told...an amazingly assured debut'

Publishing News
'A tour de force ... mesmerizing'

Customer Reviews

absolutely wonderful
i came across this book truly by chance. i needed one other item to qualify for free delivery on amazon and i thought id treat myself to a book!!! and this certainly was a treat. everything else was pushed aside just so i could finish it. i was totally captured up in the emotions that are described so rawly and truthfully. i also loved the little notebook entries. these inspiring little facts, quotes and theories really added to the sense of being completely involved with Leo's story. i was in tears in some parts! very moving stories cleverly linked together in one book.

Beautiful in parts, average in others
After reading a little of this novel, I was not hugely impressed or intrigued by it unfortunately. But I wasn't going to give up on it, something spurred me on to continue, and on balance, I am glad I got to the end, and feel fairly rewarded for sticking with it.

I felt it really improved towards the end in both stories, but the sections which tell the story of Moritz and his experiences and courage during and after World War One are, to me, by far the stronger and more compelling part of this novel, and I was engrossed in them, willing him on in his journey. Whereas, in the sections with Leo, I felt that the style was a little 'basic', and could have been improved. The two men, separated by the years but linked as is revealed at the end of the novel, are both separated from the loves of their lives. I know little of physics but enjoyed the brief elements that were discussed in the novel, in interesting ways but never too complex for a beginner to grasp the ideas raised.

Lovely to read at the end that the author has used part of his own family history here.
A good debut taken as a whole, but could have been even more amazing.

The Enduring Power of Love
Sometimes you read a book that you want to tell the world about, so mind-blowing is the story. This amazing book encapsulates bravery, immense suffering and love: above all, the enduring power of love. It really makes you think about hardship - real hardship - and there are some harrowing episodes that I'd quite like to forget, but many that I will remember for a long time.

If you love someone, give them this book - with the warning that they must NOT look at the end in advance!