Oxford, 1976. Ganz England stöhnt über die Hitze, doch Ruth Gilmartin ist vor allem um ihre Mutter besorgt: Ständig beobachtet Sally den Wald hinte...
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Aug 08, 2011
K.D.
rated it: 
William Boyd (born 1952) is a Scottish novelist and screenwriter. In 1983, he was one of the 20 ‘Best of Young British Novelist’ in a promotion run by Granta magazine and the Book Marketing Council. Restless (published 2006) tells the story of a young woman who finds out that her mother used to work as a spy for British government prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. However, unlike Susan Isaac’s Linda Voss (Melanie Griffith) in the 1992 movie, Shining Through, this is about a Russian-born spy
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Sep 19, 2007
Jerry
rated it: 
I've just posted all the William Boyd books on my bookshelf. I started reading him about five years ago (Armadillo, set in London) and over time I occasionally bought and read others. Lately after I read Brazzaville Beach I realised with surprise that I had now read all nine of his novels - and that's all until he writes another!
He creates wonderful characters in rich geographical settings and plots, often told within a twentieth century historical context: Africa commonly, and also More...
He creates wonderful characters in rich geographical settings and plots, often told within a twentieth century historical context: Africa commonly, and also More...
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(6 people liked it)
Feb 08, 2009
Restless, by William Boyd, narrated by Rosamund Pike, produced by Macmillan Audio, downloaded from audible.com.
Ruth, a single mother with a five-year-old son, is suddenly drawn into the life of her mother, Sally Gilmartin. Sally tells Ruth she believes someone is trying to kill her. She then writes a journal of her involvement as a British spy in WW II. The novel is based on an extraordinary chapter of real history, the World War before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, where the English More...
Ruth, a single mother with a five-year-old son, is suddenly drawn into the life of her mother, Sally Gilmartin. Sally tells Ruth she believes someone is trying to kill her. She then writes a journal of her involvement as a British spy in WW II. The novel is based on an extraordinary chapter of real history, the World War before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, where the English More...
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(2 people liked it)
Oct 05, 2007
Rebecca
rated it:
Long time since I read any William Boyd, I think he's like a lighter, wittier version of John Le Carre. I liked the dynamic between mother-with-mysterious past who was a spy in WW2 and stroppy grown-up daughter. Set in the heatwave of 1979 (or 8??) so there are a few moustache and cheesecloth references. Made me wish I'd been a spy.
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(3 people liked it)
Feb 05, 2009
Every critic agrees that William Boyd is a shamefully overlooked author on this side of the Atlantic. A powerful storyteller whose novels span genres and continents, Boyd often subtly ruminates on the thin line between private and public life. In Restless he fictionalizes a little-known moment of international espionage while using the conventions of spy thrillers to explore a generation gap. Critics roundly praise Sally's story. It's her daughter's story that's the trouble: a few reviewers find
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(3 people liked it)
Apr 29, 2008
Alistair
rated it: 
i just about stayed with this to the end but for a good writer like william boyd , i found it underwhelming .
the characters are very thin and a lot of them pointless , the plot creaks like a House of Horror film door , and most of the writing is cliched . most of what Boyd seems to know about spying seems to have come from the Mail on Sunday
here are some gems that i noticed
here is Romer , supposedly a big cheese spy ,explaining the rules of spying " don't tru More...
the characters are very thin and a lot of them pointless , the plot creaks like a House of Horror film door , and most of the writing is cliched . most of what Boyd seems to know about spying seems to have come from the Mail on Sunday
here are some gems that i noticed
here is Romer , supposedly a big cheese spy ,explaining the rules of spying " don't tru More...
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(11 people liked it)
Feb 22, 2009
Helena
rated it: 
This may well be the book that brings me back to fiction. I devoured it in seven days, rising and falling asleep with it. It's the story of a young British woman who discovers her mother was a British spy in the years leading up to the second world war. The story weaves back and forth as the mother retells the story. Boyd develops such interesting characters and his subplots are all so very interesting. If you want a good escape this is your book!
May 10, 2010
Flannery
rated it:
I definitely liked this book (Thanks Cassi!) but it wasn't amazing. I love reading about espionage and the history of WWII was great. Boyd did a great job of explaining lots of the skills and techniques that spies use and that was also interesting.
HOWEVER, i loved reading Eva's story but Ruth's (horrible name, especially when the Middle Eastern guy calls her Root) story was a bore for the most part. I still always wanted to keep listening though!
I thought the pencil part More...
HOWEVER, i loved reading Eva's story but Ruth's (horrible name, especially when the Middle Eastern guy calls her Root) story was a bore for the most part. I still always wanted to keep listening though!
I thought the pencil part More...
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(2 people liked it)
Dec 11, 2008
Martina
rated it:
a really fun read!! it's about an ESL teacher who discovers her mother's past. the story takes place in some of my favorite locations - montreal, ny, london, and a brief journey on the LIRR to port jefferson, LI...um, story of my life??
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(2 people liked it)
Apr 27, 2011
Kathleen
rated it:
A well-written and suspenseful novel of espionage circa WWII. The heroine is intelligent, resourceful, complex and likeable. Her experiences are plausible and left me wondering if the British really were involved in operations of the sort described in the book.
The dual time frame structure of the book worked well. The two strands eventually meeting at the denouement brought the whole thing to a satisfying conclusion. My only criticism is that “The Story of Eva Delectorskaya” was wr More...
The dual time frame structure of the book worked well. The two strands eventually meeting at the denouement brought the whole thing to a satisfying conclusion. My only criticism is that “The Story of Eva Delectorskaya” was wr More...
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(1 person liked it)
Apr 17, 2011
Tony
rated it:
Boyd, William. RESTLESS. (2006). *****.
Mr. Boyd has that remarkable ability and talent to tell a story that keeps the reader engaged right to the end. This is an espionage novel, a war novel, and a love story. Sally Gilmartin, a woman in her seventies living in Oxford, begins giving pieces of her memoirs to her daughter, Ruth – a single mom. She reveals, first of all, that she is not Sally Gilmartin, but actually Eva Delectorskaya, a Russian emigre recruited for the British Secret S More...
Mr. Boyd has that remarkable ability and talent to tell a story that keeps the reader engaged right to the end. This is an espionage novel, a war novel, and a love story. Sally Gilmartin, a woman in her seventies living in Oxford, begins giving pieces of her memoirs to her daughter, Ruth – a single mom. She reveals, first of all, that she is not Sally Gilmartin, but actually Eva Delectorskaya, a Russian emigre recruited for the British Secret S More...
Jan 06, 2011
Mark
rated it:
Picked this up in a bookshop as a Christmas present for someone but then read it myself; as this is how I got hooked on the earlier works of Michael Morpurgo whilst buying them as presents for my nephews and nieces whilst young it looks like a bit of a christmas hazard. The shape of the chapters, alternating between the reminiscences and betrayal of the 1940's with the ' present time ' account of the sweltering summer of 1976 was simple but effective. As a young lad in 1976 I remembered that sum
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4 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Apr 02, 2010
Mike
rated it:
"Restless" is both a compelling thriller and a close look at the mechanics and consequences of deception. It slides easily across the tongue and then leaves an after-taste that is complex and intriguing.
The novel takes place on two historical timelines simultaneously: oxford in the the 1970's (presented as the present day) and Europe/US during World War II. In Oxford a young single mother taking her PhD, is handed a file by her eccentric mother. The file describes a life sh More...
The novel takes place on two historical timelines simultaneously: oxford in the the 1970's (presented as the present day) and Europe/US during World War II. In Oxford a young single mother taking her PhD, is handed a file by her eccentric mother. The file describes a life sh More...
Dec 23, 2009
Jacquelynn
rated it:
This was a reasonably interesting story, but marred by its main characters, with whom I could not really empathise. Not every reader feels the need to like the characters in a book, but for me, the relationships are very important.
This book is another timeslip novel, set in the 1970s and the 1940s. Ruth gets vaguely involved with some half hearted protestors, while her mother in the 1940s is a spy in an organisation which creates propaganda for use in the second world war. The More...
This book is another timeslip novel, set in the 1970s and the 1940s. Ruth gets vaguely involved with some half hearted protestors, while her mother in the 1940s is a spy in an organisation which creates propaganda for use in the second world war. The More...
Jan 17, 2012
Jim
rated it:
A spy novel structured in a narrative where the character slowly finds out about her mother's past at the same time as current events are happening. The WWII bits are not written as a memoir as is presented in the book - which presents a reader problem. What is the nature of what I'm reading. If its not a memoir in the first person, but a narrative in the third, who wrote it? This might be answered in the end, but obliquely.
I'm reading all of Le Carre's novels and while I've read onl More...
I'm reading all of Le Carre's novels and while I've read onl More...
Dec 10, 2010
Kirsty
rated it:
I had a bit of a case of "good book at the wrong time" here; but in the end it came out pretty well.
I started reading this book in the middle of moving house and it was suffering from my only getting to read a few pages at a time. The book flips between two stories: one in "present day" 1976 with eternal postgrad Ruth Gilmartin working as a tutor in Oxford, looking after her young son and worrying about her mother; and the second story being written down by Ruth's mother, on
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Mar 28, 2009
Debbi
rated it:
Literary spy thrillers have become a new favorite genre of mine. RESTLESS by William Boyd is about as literary as they come. The writing has a certain lyrical rhythm to it, the sentences running long, strung together by commas, sort of like this one only longer. And Boyd loves to use words that evoke marvelous imagery, likes description such as that of a manor house "falling down, on its last woodwormed legs, giving up its parched ghost to entropy. Sagging tarpaulins covered the roof of the
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Dec 28, 2009
Morgan
rated it:
Restless entertained me, but I wouldn't call it a particularly great novel. The story jumps back and forth between the main characters in the 70's and the main character's mother in the 40's. The flashback scenes center around Sally Gilmartin (the mother) and her days as a British spy working to get America involved in WWII. I found the propaganda Sally was spreading far more interesting than the actual story itself. In the 70's, Sally's daughter is learning of her mother's life as a spy.
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Jan 17, 2012
Jennifer
rated it:
Uneven but very enjoyable, Restless is yet another story told through parallel narratives where one works better than the other. Ruth is a single mother in London raising her son and teaching ESL. She knows her mother as Sally Gilmartin but as the novel opens, Sally has starting to feed Ruth segments of her own memoir revealing her past as a Russian born spy for Britain in WWII. Sally/Eva's story is completely engaging, telling how she was recruited, how she was trained and then used by the B
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Jul 12, 2010
Lorraine
rated it:
I wasn't entirely sure whether to give this book 4 stars or 5, but considering I was constantly wanting to read it to find out what happened next, I decided that warranted 5 stars.
We're introduced to the character of Ruth who learns rather suddenly that her Mother's past is not all that it seems. The book then alternates the story from the current 1979 view of Ruth with the 1939 - 1942 viewpoint of her Mother, and the impact on the characters as it all unravels.
The book More...
We're introduced to the character of Ruth who learns rather suddenly that her Mother's past is not all that it seems. The book then alternates the story from the current 1979 view of Ruth with the 1939 - 1942 viewpoint of her Mother, and the impact on the characters as it all unravels.
The book More...
Sep 21, 2010
Kat
rated it:
http://tinyurl.com/27c9jjq
I'm not mustering a lot of enthusiasm to write this review. It wasn't that the writing wasn't keen and the characters weren't well drawn and the setting wasn't pretty darn fascinating. It's that it started off so slowly. And that surprised me.
In the beginning, our heroine (or one of our heroines) is being wooed to the life of being a spy, but in a most lethargical manner. Emotion doesn't overrun anyone, and there aren't any impassioned speeches. Inst More...
I'm not mustering a lot of enthusiasm to write this review. It wasn't that the writing wasn't keen and the characters weren't well drawn and the setting wasn't pretty darn fascinating. It's that it started off so slowly. And that surprised me.
In the beginning, our heroine (or one of our heroines) is being wooed to the life of being a spy, but in a most lethargical manner. Emotion doesn't overrun anyone, and there aren't any impassioned speeches. Inst More...
May 03, 2011
Sherri aka SDMomChef
rated it:
This was a good solid story, but not a blow my socks off kind of story. The novel is the story of a mother and daughter in England. The mother reveals to her daughter that her real name is Eva and she was a British spy during World War II. Her mother needs her daughter's help to track down the person who recruited her to the British Intelligence. Her mother is convinced that this person has located her and is trying to kill her because of what she knows from her time as a spy.
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Nov 05, 2011
Puja
rated it:
I downloaded this book because of it's on a list of recommended books on audible, and I have to say, I was not disappointed. The story was intricately woven, the characters engaging, and the glimpse into the life of british spies before American involvement in WWII absolutely riveting. This is not the usual genre of books I tend towards as a reader, or period of history I love as a History graduate. However, Boyd did an amazing job keeping the intrigue and mystery going, and in the process causi
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Dec 18, 2010
Mark
rated it:
Based on his most recent book, "Ordinary Thunderstorms," and this one, I'd be willing to argue there are few better storytellers in English writing today than William Boyd, in terms of interest of the subject matter, characterization and pacing.
In Restless, we meet the marvelous Eva Delectorskaya, Russian born, who as a young woman in Paris is recruited to become part of the British Secret Service in World War II. Besides being beautiful, Eva proves adept at her job, par More...
Jan 04, 2012
Danielle
rated it:
I happened upon this book in the "bargain" section of the kindle store and I have to say, it was pretty good. The main subject matter is a woman who is recruited to act as a spy for Britain in the early months of WWII. She works alongside a team of spies whose main goal is to bring America into the war on the side of the British. There's a secondary storyline about this woman's daughter discovering the truth about her mother many years after the fact. This part of the story was les
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Oct 02, 2009
Debbie
rated it:
My first spy thriller.
Ruth is a single mother in the 1970 and her mother Eva was a spy during world war 11. The book flows back and forth between the two and we learn of Eva's colourful past as a spy.
I hated all the 1970's stuff that involved Ruth, it all seemed pointless and didnt go anywhere and her charactor seemed more 2009 than 1970. Eva's story on the other hand was great. Its very hard to explain the bits I enjoyed without giving away the plot but involves a love affair with More...
Ruth is a single mother in the 1970 and her mother Eva was a spy during world war 11. The book flows back and forth between the two and we learn of Eva's colourful past as a spy.
I hated all the 1970's stuff that involved Ruth, it all seemed pointless and didnt go anywhere and her charactor seemed more 2009 than 1970. Eva's story on the other hand was great. Its very hard to explain the bits I enjoyed without giving away the plot but involves a love affair with More...
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Feb 13, 2010
Arthur
rated it:
Restless is a spy novel set in the US and the UK in the periods: just before the US entry into WWII, and in 1976. Chapters alternate between a mother's activities as a spy, mainly for the British in the US, and her daughter's then contemporary life in Oxfordshire as a daughter and a dissertation-blocked single mother who is enlisted in the resolution of unfinished spy business. There's an "all is revealed" chapter at the end that pulls it all together.
This is a very engagin More...
This is a very engagin More...
Nov 26, 2011
Seb
rated it:
Well written and plotted by one of the UK's top writers.
Two strands (Eva's and her daughter's) separated by 30 years are interweaved. The World War 2 strand is so much stronger than the 70's Oxford strand that, if the novel has a weakness, this is it. You are left with the feeling that something more should have come out of the hints about German 70s extremism.
Having said this, 'Restless' is well worth the read. The characterisation of women by a male writer is always diff More...
Two strands (Eva's and her daughter's) separated by 30 years are interweaved. The World War 2 strand is so much stronger than the 70's Oxford strand that, if the novel has a weakness, this is it. You are left with the feeling that something more should have come out of the hints about German 70s extremism.
Having said this, 'Restless' is well worth the read. The characterisation of women by a male writer is always diff More...
Nov 04, 2011
Anthony D
rated it:
A really good read, with well-drawn characters and a gripping plot.
It's a sorry tale of spying and treachery. The heroine, Sally, was a wartime spy who can never leave behind the past for fear of an old enemy, a traitor who must silence her. The plot is framed so that the now elderly Sally's long and secret life unfolds through her relationship with her daughter. Here, everybody is more or less betrayed: the spy herself, her target (in this case, America), her fellow-spies, her lo More...
It's a sorry tale of spying and treachery. The heroine, Sally, was a wartime spy who can never leave behind the past for fear of an old enemy, a traitor who must silence her. The plot is framed so that the now elderly Sally's long and secret life unfolds through her relationship with her daughter. Here, everybody is more or less betrayed: the spy herself, her target (in this case, America), her fellow-spies, her lo More...
May 11, 2011
Jariss
rated it:
Honestly, looking up William Boyd I was afraid that he was going to be one
of those authors who are appraised by everyone and end up not really being
all what I had expected or anticipated. But this time wasn't the case. I tore
through this book in literally no time at all, like I think this was the quickest
I've ever gone through a novel. It was just so well written, that it kept me
excited to read some more. The language was so simple yet it drew me in
and I was so engu More...
of those authors who are appraised by everyone and end up not really being
all what I had expected or anticipated. But this time wasn't the case. I tore
through this book in literally no time at all, like I think this was the quickest
I've ever gone through a novel. It was just so well written, that it kept me
excited to read some more. The language was so simple yet it drew me in
and I was so engu More...
