Product Description

1992: Leo Deakin wakes up in a hospital somewhere in South America, his girlfriend Eleni is dead and Leo doesn't know where he is or how Eleni died. He blames himself for the tragedy and is sucked into a spiral of despair. But Leo is about to discover something which will change his life forever. 1917: Moritz Daniecki is a fugitive from a Siberian POW camp. Seven thousand kilometres over the Russian Steppes separate him from his village and his sweetheart, whose memory has kept him alive through carnage and captivity. The Great War may be over, but Moritz now faces a perilous journey across a continent riven by civil war. When Moritz finally limps back into his village to claim the hand of the woman he left behind, will she still be waiting? Danny Scheinmann paints a dramatic portrait of two men sustaining their lives through the memory of love. Cinematic and brimming with raw emotions, it is the magnificent and emotive debut from a remarkable new writer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #867 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-01
• Original language: English
• 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

"Tell her, brief is life but love is long" - Tennyson
RANDOM ACTS OF HEROIC LOVE is a fantastic debut novel by a very talented writer. Scheinmann spent six years writing his debut, and as you read, you can certainly see how it could be viewed as a labour of love. I think this book has been a cathartic experience for Scheinmann, and it just so happens to be a tremendous piece of work.

The book esentially follows two stories - one is of Mortiz Daniecki in 1917. As a survivor of the war, he is captured and put into a POW camp. Yet this is not where his story ends, for what keeps Mortiz fighting to get through the war and back home is the young love he has left behind there, Lotte. Before Moritz heads off to be a soldier, they share a kiss together and it is this kiss that spurs Moritz on; the memory of her sustains him and gives him reason to live. Once he escapes from the camp, Moritz then faces an arduous journey walking his way home, to his love and the life he had before.
The second story is set in 1992 and follows Leo Deakin. At the age of 25, Leo wakes up in hospital having survived a crash whilst travelling in South America. Upon waking, Leo discovers that his girlfriend Eleni did not survive the crash, but he cannot remember anything about it. As he struggles to rebuild his memory of what happened, whilst coming to terms with his loss, you follow him on this journey.

Through these two stories, Scheinmann has managed to explore the many issues of bereavement, love, survival, hope and travelling on physical aswell as philosophical journies in great depth and to great effect. Even if you have never lost a loved one, or been separated from your love, I am sure that you will be able to appreciate and understand the power of the emotions behind this extraordinary novel. What makes it even more so remarkable is that the journey Moritz makes across Russia was actually undertaken by Scheinmann's grandfather. Leo's experience of losing his partner at a young age is also another experience related to Scheinmann, so this knowledge shows just how much of his soul he has exposed within these pages.

I would recommend RANDOM ACTS OF HEROIC LOVE to anyone who believes in the power of love. This is a great book, it shall stay with you long after you have closed the pages.

An Absorbing Read
I loved this book from the first page right through to the last. It is essentially two stories in one novel and I was totally hooked from the first page. Each story was thoroughly absorbing and appear to be completely separate from each other (one is set in 1917 the other in 1995, one is a Russian solider and one is an English student) and the ending is absolutely fitting in their conclusion. Brilliantly written - each of the two narrative voices remain seperate throughout the book and each are thoroughly convincing.

If you are a romantic person, or you are looking for some validation of your own love for someone or if you are just a plain old believer in the power of love this is the book for you. It is a love story that isn't a sex story and is passionate without being slushy. I would recommend it to romantics and hard-hearts alike.

Doesn't live up to the hype
Having read the rave reviews on this site, I've come to the conclusion that I must have missed something. The description of Moritz's trek across Siberia is admittedly pretty gripping, but unfortunately is relegated to second place by the modern day exploration of Leo's grief following the sudden death of his girlfriend. I'm sure there is something of value in terms of exploring the difficult subject of bereavement within the pages of this book, but it is buried beneath clumsy prose and a cast of paper thin supporting characters that it is impossible to care about. The 'physicist' spouting cod philosophy is particularly cringeworthy, and the renewal of the relationship between Leo's parents came a close second.

Incidentally, I'm quite confused as to how Leo gained the ability to understand Polish and read the letters in the space of a few days. I kept expecting this new found skill to be explained in the last few pages, but was left scratching my head at the end.