The Second World War is over, but young Tomas learns that Europe's wounds have not yet healed.
REDISCOVER THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF A WHITBREAD SHORTLISTED NOVEL
'GOODMAN WRITES WITH FLARE AND PANACHE, AND THE NARRATIVE FIZZES ALONG. GOODMAN'S NOVEL SOARS.' The Times
'BERLIN IS SEEN BRILLIANTLY THROUGH THE HERO'S EYES.' The Scotsman
'A NEW DAWN FOR BRITISH WRITING' The Daily Post
Tomas is taught by English war veterans. He walks the ruins of Coventry with his Gran, the city still rebuilding from the blitz.
But his mother is German, and as he nears adulthood Tomas finds himself in Berlin. His enigmatic uncle takes him in, a blind, disgraced Nazi soldier. Arm-in-arm, they explore a drastically changing Berlin, leading one another to places new. Tomas finds more family out in Dresden, a city decimated by Allied firebombs,
What might a young man make of this shattered legacy?
What might we inherit from the wars of our elders, and how might we move on?
Autorentext
Born in Leicester, Martin's career in writing, teaching and publishing has taken him around the globe. 'All we can do is rattle the bars and look after him as he runs into the hills. We wait for his letters home.' - The Los Angeles Times. He's published eleven books, including non-fiction. He is an Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Hull.
Klappentext
THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF MARTIN GOODMAN'S WHITBREAD SHORTLISTED NOVEL
'Goodman writes with flare and panache, and the narrative fizzes along. Goodman's novel soars.' The Times
'A perceptive, moving novel. Martin Goodman takes fierce delight in cutting through the easy cliches about the "new" Europe.' Christopher Hope
'Goodman's quirkily charming novel interweaves a young man's search for selfhood in provincial Britain with the mysteries of his mother's German past. ~ Natasha Walker, Vogue
The Second World War is over, but the Europe's wounds have not yet healed.
Tomas is half-German, he is taught by English war veterans. He walks the ruins of Coventry with his English Gran, the city still crumbling from the blitz.
When he nears adulthood, Tomas goes to Germany to stay with his blind uncle. The enigmatic old man was once a German soldier. They explore the drastically changed Berlin, leading one another to places new. Out in Dresden, a city decimated by Allied firebombs, Tomas has more family still.
What might a young man make of all this?
ON BENDED KNEES explores the inheritance of war guilt in a post-war Europe. It considers how the next generation can reconcile the sins of the last; a timeless dynamic in the modern world.
What might we inherit from the wars of our elders, and how might we move on?
'The emotional tact of Martin Goodman's ON BENDED KNEES slips down like a milky cuppa. Yet Goodman's plot unfolds against a backcloth of even deeper red. Tomas grows up with his German mother in the postwar Midlands, a place of oozing war-wounds where a gung-ho film or a World Cup tie can split his heart in two. "We carry old deaths within us," warns his dying teacher and Tomas must turn pilgrim in Dresden to make peace with his family's past. This quiet and subtle study of reconciliation tends to stick with English understatement and eschew German grandeur. No matter, Britain has squads of youngish writers trained to squeeze the last drop of moral juice out of the Second World War and its aftermath. It takes a braver soul, like Goodman, to hint that postwar babes should try instead to lay these ghosts to rest.' The Observer
'A professional combination of rite-of-passage novel and cultural quest.... Berlin is brilliantly seen through the hero's eyes, as is the character who effectively steals the novel, the blind and autocratic Herr Poppel. The novel comes most to life when Tomas and Poppel are taking their walks around the divided city's streets and parks... A very impressive debut.' Colin Donald, The Scotsman