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A review by book_concierge
22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson
4.0
Audiobook narrated by Robin Sachs
At the end of World War II, Silvana and her seven-year-old son Aurek board a ship that will take them to England, where her husband, Janusz, waits for them. As the war escalated, he had joined the Polish Army, leaving his wife and infant son behind. Then Warsaw was bombed and Silvana fled to the forest with Aurek. Now he has settled in England. He wants nothing more than for them to become a proper English family, with a normal life in the small house at 22 Britannia Road.
Hodgkinson’s debut novel is beautifully told. The war has affected all of them, and they each bear secrets that lead to misunderstandings and feelings of distrust. How these damaged people struggle to become a family once again forms the central theme of the book.
I was engaged and interested in the story from beginning to end. Hodgkinson divides her chapters by location/time and by character, telling parallel stories: Poland during the war, England after the war. I liked how she used this technique to slowly reveal to the reader what Silvana and Janusz endured during their years apart. The choices they made carry consequences they dare not share with one another. And yet, they must find the love they once shared and nurture it, for themselves as individuals, for their child, and for their family.
Aurek fascinated me. When he and Silvana arrive in England he is understandably clingy. Janusz knows they lived in the forest for a time, but he’s not prepared for a son who hoards food, and doesn’t know how to tie his shoes or even how to sleep in a bed. Silvana tells Aurek again and again that they are safe, that Janusz is his father and loves him. But Aurek learned to be suspicious of men during their time in the forest, and he thinks of Janusz as “the enemy.”
Robin Sachs does an excellent job narrating the audiobook. He has good pacing and clearly differentiated the characters. I was never confused about who was speaking or what time frame I was in.
At the end of World War II, Silvana and her seven-year-old son Aurek board a ship that will take them to England, where her husband, Janusz, waits for them. As the war escalated, he had joined the Polish Army, leaving his wife and infant son behind. Then Warsaw was bombed and Silvana fled to the forest with Aurek. Now he has settled in England. He wants nothing more than for them to become a proper English family, with a normal life in the small house at 22 Britannia Road.
Hodgkinson’s debut novel is beautifully told. The war has affected all of them, and they each bear secrets that lead to misunderstandings and feelings of distrust. How these damaged people struggle to become a family once again forms the central theme of the book.
I was engaged and interested in the story from beginning to end. Hodgkinson divides her chapters by location/time and by character, telling parallel stories: Poland during the war, England after the war. I liked how she used this technique to slowly reveal to the reader what Silvana and Janusz endured during their years apart. The choices they made carry consequences they dare not share with one another. And yet, they must find the love they once shared and nurture it, for themselves as individuals, for their child, and for their family.
Aurek fascinated me. When he and Silvana arrive in England he is understandably clingy. Janusz knows they lived in the forest for a time, but he’s not prepared for a son who hoards food, and doesn’t know how to tie his shoes or even how to sleep in a bed. Silvana tells Aurek again and again that they are safe, that Janusz is his father and loves him. But Aurek learned to be suspicious of men during their time in the forest, and he thinks of Janusz as “the enemy.”
Robin Sachs does an excellent job narrating the audiobook. He has good pacing and clearly differentiated the characters. I was never confused about who was speaking or what time frame I was in.