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Restitution
In February 1945, Europe is in ruins and the Red Army is searing its way across Germany's eastern marches, revenging itself upon a petrified population. The war is over, but for some the fight for survival is only just beginning. Alix, the aristocratic daughter of a German resistance fighter, is alone and desperate to flee before the Reds come. But when a ferocious snowstorm descends she must return to the shelter of her abandoned ancestral home. There, she is shocked to find her childhood sweetheart Gregor. As old passions are rekindled, a couple break into the house to hide - the man, dressed in Gestapo uniform, is a stranger, but his companion is altogether more familiar.By morning, the blizzard has died down but the Reds are back. The woman and her Nazi escort are dead, and Gregor has vanished. Alone and terrified, Alix runs for her life, and embarks upon an extraordinary and heartbreaking journey. It will take sixty years and the fall of another empire - Communism - before the riddles of that fateful night can be deciphered. "Restitution" is a memorable novel about love and betrayal, hatred and heroism - a reminder that, even in the worst of times, the most courageous acts of kindness are possible.
392 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2008
21 people are currently reading
218 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 4, 2020
Why, oh why, ruin an interesting story with good characters, by making me jump between years, people, countries? 2 and a half stars rounded up to three.
February 28, 2016
This is one of the most absorbing and thought-provoking books that I've read for a long time. As the Red Army advances on a terrified nation, Alix (a Baron's daughter) is trying to flee but is trapped in her house by a raging snowstorm. What happens that night has far-reaching effects on many peoples lives and we are taken back and forth in time, to Alix's family and friends. This is a riveting tale of love, heroism, cruelty, kindness and the re-building of lives in the aftermath of the War. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a storyline that will draw you in and leave you breathless at the end.
July 31, 2016
Resolution
The war has ended for the west, but the Russians carry trouble with them as they evade Prussia. Will the protagonists survive in this period of spies and hidden backgrounds. When you can trust no one, at all.
The mood of this book Is just short of spooky. This is a dark period for the books setting, Prussia, an area of which little has been written until recent times.
But this novel does have a a resolution.
The war has ended for the west, but the Russians carry trouble with them as they evade Prussia. Will the protagonists survive in this period of spies and hidden backgrounds. When you can trust no one, at all.
The mood of this book Is just short of spooky. This is a dark period for the books setting, Prussia, an area of which little has been written until recent times.
But this novel does have a a resolution.
November 9, 2008
"Write the story then shuffle the chapters" seems to be the current method of novel-writing. I lost interest, as the story jumped around the various time settings. There was potential in the scenario for a gripping story, but this wasn't it.
January 14, 2019
Brilliant, so very thought provoking and poignant,and giving an insight into the various nationalities involved in WW2 and how it affected all of them, with various lives intertwined.
July 15, 2019
A really sad love story. I couldn't put it down.
March 22, 2020
Entertaining enough but I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to buy others by this writer.
September 24, 2023
Story was okay but the hopping around from date to date, story to story, war to war lost me.
Struggled to finish
Struggled to finish
October 18, 2015
The scale of this book is immense - over eighty years of European history covered, and several characters followed as their lives are blown off course by war. I found it oddly contradictory: I like to read informative fiction, and here was a whole array of historical events - from the effects of the Versailles Treaty through Nazi Germany and a gulag or two - and yet I didn't feel as if I learned much; instead it felt as though I needed to go away and research the events first so I could understand what was going on. Also, so much of the plot rests on emotional connections between the characters, and yet I didn't feel any such connection with them myself, the daytime-TV style final chapters leaving me resolutely dry-eyed. And though the book moves quickly, in order to fit everything in, it doesn't bring with it the rollercoaster feeling you get from a fast moving story, instead it feels as if events are being sketched too quickly for you ever to get a grip on them.
All the way through we are whisked backwards and forwards in time and told little snippets of the story. This can be an effective way of storytelling, but in this case it left me disorientated as each chapter raised more questions than it answered, and sent off little shoots which might have resulted in interesting plot developments, but which were often not mentioned again. Throughout, I found myself thinking less would have been more, in the sense that concentrating on just one of the plot elements (eg Gregor's experiences in Poland and the Soviet Union) would have made a great story on their own. At one point, four of the characters find themselves in a tense standoff overnight in a house, complex connections between them having established in previous chapters, and I wondered if this was what the book had been leading up to - maybe the rest of the story would be taken up with the events of that night, the sort of thing you could run as a stage play in front of a live audience. I wasn't unhappy at the prospect, but I was wrong - whilst this scene might be the focal point of the novel, it is over quite quickly as with most other scenes, and the characters go haring off into their futures at breakneck pace.
There were some nicely described passages (in particular I found myself re-reading the bit where Gregor considers a future in London several times for reasons that are unclear), and to its credit it covers the part of Austria that became part of Italy after World War I. Watching the tennis recently I heard the commentator say of a player: 'he comes from the German speaking part of Italy' and was sure he must have made a mistake. But he was right - it's covered right here. But all in all, it was a book I was relieved to get to the end of; like being dragged through a series of muddy puddles with your foot tangled in a stirrup, you're glad when the horse finally stops.
All the way through we are whisked backwards and forwards in time and told little snippets of the story. This can be an effective way of storytelling, but in this case it left me disorientated as each chapter raised more questions than it answered, and sent off little shoots which might have resulted in interesting plot developments, but which were often not mentioned again. Throughout, I found myself thinking less would have been more, in the sense that concentrating on just one of the plot elements (eg Gregor's experiences in Poland and the Soviet Union) would have made a great story on their own. At one point, four of the characters find themselves in a tense standoff overnight in a house, complex connections between them having established in previous chapters, and I wondered if this was what the book had been leading up to - maybe the rest of the story would be taken up with the events of that night, the sort of thing you could run as a stage play in front of a live audience. I wasn't unhappy at the prospect, but I was wrong - whilst this scene might be the focal point of the novel, it is over quite quickly as with most other scenes, and the characters go haring off into their futures at breakneck pace.
There were some nicely described passages (in particular I found myself re-reading the bit where Gregor considers a future in London several times for reasons that are unclear), and to its credit it covers the part of Austria that became part of Italy after World War I. Watching the tennis recently I heard the commentator say of a player: 'he comes from the German speaking part of Italy' and was sure he must have made a mistake. But he was right - it's covered right here. But all in all, it was a book I was relieved to get to the end of; like being dragged through a series of muddy puddles with your foot tangled in a stirrup, you're glad when the horse finally stops.
April 22, 2016
Across time and generations the choices of belonging and surviving are drawn out within characters and between characters until an ease is reached that makes all the tensions seem irrelevant. Eliza Graham’s Restitution has all the elements of a fairytale, with the added ingredient of truth.
People have lived these lives. People have faced these horrors. Some have died in their midst and others have survived time and again to make different sense of their memories from every viewpoint along the way.
Ultimately Restitution is about the peace we find within ourselves that resolves our need to continuing blaming or protecting, perpetrating or perpetuating. An easier read than the sources it is drawn from, but no less challenging for its looking through love rather than hate. The different lens makes all the difference to our own ability to discern rather than judge. That the idealistic love of childhood persists through all the atrocities makes one wonder about the concept of maturity and whether it can indeed be developed.
A book for the Light-Hearted rather than the light of heart.
People have lived these lives. People have faced these horrors. Some have died in their midst and others have survived time and again to make different sense of their memories from every viewpoint along the way.
Ultimately Restitution is about the peace we find within ourselves that resolves our need to continuing blaming or protecting, perpetrating or perpetuating. An easier read than the sources it is drawn from, but no less challenging for its looking through love rather than hate. The different lens makes all the difference to our own ability to discern rather than judge. That the idealistic love of childhood persists through all the atrocities makes one wonder about the concept of maturity and whether it can indeed be developed.
A book for the Light-Hearted rather than the light of heart.
May 18, 2009
Graham's sensitivity to this subject and her undoubtedly extensive research make this a Good Read rather than a romantic summer read. Her narrative structure is impressive by releasing information in a drip-drip fashion rather than using a conventional long flashback. And the different time periods create a tension between themselves which drives this story. I wasn't overly impressed by the tying up of the loose ends and the somewhat fairytale side of things but again I think the subject matter is perhaps easier to digest within conventional narrative frameworks. If you'd like to discuss this novel join me in Spain in September:
Booklovers in Spain
Booklovers in Spain
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 13, 2011
Disappointing. I loved Eliza Graham's Playing with the Moon and was looking forward to Restitution but I was left very dissatisfied by it. I didn't like the way the story kept moving backwards and forwards in time every chapter; I found it hard to keep track of what was happening and who was who and it made the story too fragmented and choppy. I also felt I should have been more moved by the plight of the characters and their circumstances but I wasn't. I persevered with it but it was only OK for me, rather than good.
July 21, 2015
I found this book absorbing and unlike some of the other reviewers, I appreciated the style of switching back and forth in time. The subject matter could have been depressing but the style allowed for reader relief.
The characters are well developed and their stories plausible. The historical aspects seem well researched and are used effectively.
I admit that the ending was a bit predictable but in truth, it was the ending I wanted so I won't complain.
I recommend this book for anyone interested in this time period as it looks at each situation from several points of view.
The characters are well developed and their stories plausible. The historical aspects seem well researched and are used effectively.
I admit that the ending was a bit predictable but in truth, it was the ending I wanted so I won't complain.
I recommend this book for anyone interested in this time period as it looks at each situation from several points of view.
October 27, 2008
1945. The Red Army sweeps through Germany. One family are caught in the middle--they're not Hitler supporters and they've done their bit to resist him, but they're aristocrats and the Russians have marked them out for special attention. Yet love flowers at a time of horror and hope over-rides fear and hatred.
October 28, 2015
A story that takes you deep into the minds of people who suffered during and after WWII. Although I found it slow at times and the back and forth of time periods (which, evidentially, is the "new" thing now in writing), it was a heart warming book. The suffering of people and the overall devistation of many countries and its people is brought out in this book.
October 3, 2011
I really enjoyed this book! I started it in the morning and had it finished by 5 pm that evening--just couldn't put it down! The chapters switch between different times and characters and all were equally compelling and easy to follow.
July 12, 2015
While the premise of the book was good, it was difficult to read because of the narration jumping back and forth in time. After reading it twice, I'm still confused about some of the characters especially Alix's mother and Preizler (What really happened between them?).
May 23, 2013
Thought it was good, kept me to the end :o)
May 30, 2016
An interesting story but I found it quite disjointed as it moves backwards and forwards in time so frequently. Parts of the story also seemed quite implausible.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews