The Road Between Us

From the author of the acclaimed The Blasphemer, a stunning new novel ranging from forbidden love in World War Two to the painful return of a man kept hostage in today's Afghanistan.

Rich, unsparing and exquisitely textured...Farndale possesses the implacable emotional ferocity of a first-rate novelist...Achingly poignant.

Farndale is an exceptional storyteller... An elegant and atmospheric fiction about survival and redemption.

Nigel Farndale’s magnificent novel… Tender, chilling and life-affirming, this book made me want to shout from the rooftops.

The beauty of this novel lies in Farndale's ability to wrap some testing moral questions around a fantastic story...A book that has at its core a passionate examination of the meaning of love.

Two stories set some 70 years apart unfold in tandem in this big, busy novel whose themes range from the mysteries of memory to forbidden desire of all shades....As for the riddle of how these two tales connect, that's what drives the novel and provides it with an unexpected twist.

Cleverly intertwines narrative strands and relationships from the Second World War and present day...It's easy to immerse oneself in Nigel Farndale's writing...compelling...vivid and, at times, disturbing.

A dual time frame novel that effortlessly switches  between WW II and the present-day conflict in Afghanistan. ..With elegant prose and cracking suspense, this book certainly delivers.

Nigel Farndale is the author of The Blasphemer, which was shortlisted for the 2010 Costa Novel Award. His previous books include Haw-Haw: The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce, which was shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Biography Award and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He was born and raised in the Yorkshire Dales and now lives on the Hampshire-Sussex border with his wife and their three sons.

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From the Costa Prize shortlisted author of The Blasphemer, a novel of survival, redemption and forbidden love from World War II to today's Afghanistan. 
 
1939: In a hotel room overlooking Piccadilly Circus, two young men are arrested. Charles is court-martialled for ‘conduct unbecoming’; Anselm is deported home to Germany for ‘re-education’ in a brutal labour camp. Separated by the outbreak of war, and a social order that rejects their love, they must each make a difficult choice, and then live with the consequences. 
 
 2012: Edward, a diplomat held hostage for eleven years in an Afghan cave, returns to London to find his wife is dead, and in her place is an unnerving double – his daughter, now grown up. Numb with grief, he attempts to re-build his life and answer the questions that are troubling him. Was his wife’s death an accident? Who paid his ransom? And how was his release linked to Charles, his father? 
 
 As dark and nuanced as it is powerful and moving, The Road Between Us is a novel about survival, redemption and forbidden love. Its moral complexities will haunt the reader for days after the final page has been turned.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD & A RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK

The Blasphemer

Shortlisted for the 2010 Costa Novel Award, an astonishing, ambitious and masterful new novel, with echoes of Birdsong, that reads at the pace of a thriller.

A great achievement...To take on the First World War as so very many have done and make it fresh is remarkable.

Does suspense exceptionally well, and it's a book that won't leave your fingernails intact...a terrifically exciting and thought-provoking must-read

This perfectly constructed drama explores the moralities around unconditional love and self-preservation. And it also weaves an intricate story of redemption starting in the trenches at Passchendaele and continuing till Britain's current terror threat...storytelling at its best.

Ignites with an energy that should ensure short-listing in the next Man Booker Prize....Farndale's evocation of trench warfare surpasses Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong...Of the book's many accomplishments perhaps the strongest is the writing itself. Exquisite and luminous...Farndale gives a master class in the power of literature to illuminate the physical world and the human soul.

Love, cowardice and redemption are the themes that stalk Farndale's beautifully intelligent tale.

Profound, moving and compelling. A beautifully composed novel.

A beguiling and resonant novel of ideas. The action is vivid and absorbing...although this intergenerational family drama is plotted like a thriller, it's also a novel of ideas, throwing light on the strange dance between religion and science.

Beautiful...Farndale's elegant prose, his storytelling ability and the wise tolerance with which he views...his characters lend his exhilarating novel a tenderly redemptive afterimage.

It makes exhilarating reading, all the better for its satirical edge.

Love, terrorism, plane crashes, Passchendaele, religious visions... The highest compliment one can pay Farndale... is that the material is so well marshalled that the narrative unfurls without strain....beautifully done.

Philosophically ambitious and deftly crafted, Nigel Farndale's novel has one leg planted in the trenches of the First World War and the other placed sure-footedly in the present...perspicacious observations of human behaviour... beautiful.

A constantly engaging and witty novel from a tremendously clever writer.

Plausiby drawn....strong central characters, interesting subplots and well-sketched minor characters.

As idiosyncratic as it is ambitious...given shape and purpose by a true literary craftsman. The book both keeps you reading and makes you think.

I drank in Nigel Farndale's The Blasphemer in huge lungfuls, and mourned it when it was finished. For anyone who loved Saturday, Atonement or Birdsong, this is the generational novel at its best.

Nigel Farndale was born and raised in the Yorkshire Dales where he farmed with his father and grandfather, a veteran of the Trenches. He is the author of Haw-Haw: The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce, a biography shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He now lives on the Hampshire-Sussex border with his wife and their three children.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD &amp; A RICHARD &amp; JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK 
 
He had always been scared of flying. Now, the fear is real. A plane crash. The water is rising over his mouth. In his nostrils. Lungs. As Daniel gasps, he swallows; and punches at his seat-belt. Nancy, the woman he loves, is trapped in her seat. He clambers over her, pushing her face into the headrest. 
It is a reflex, visceral action made without rational thought... 
 
But Daniel Kennedy did it. And already we have judged him from the comfort of our own lives. 
 
Almost a hundred years earlier, Daniel's great-grandfather goes over the top at Passchendaele.A shell explodes, and he wakes up alone and lost in the hell of no-man's-land. Where are the others? Has he been left behind? 
 
And if he doesn't find his unit, is he a deserter? 
 
Love; cowardice; trust; forgiveness.How will any of us behave when we are pushed to extremes? 
 
'A great achievement...To take on the First World War as so very many have done and make it fresh is remarkable.' MELVYN BRAGG 
 
'A book that won't leave your fingernails intact...a terrifically exciting and thought-provoking must-read' DAILY MAIL

Nigel Farndale

[A] riveting novel... a fast-paced, brilliantly constructed thriller, in which the fates of the three young British protagonists hang in the balance at the end of every chapter. The period detail is as sharply focussed as one of Riefenstahl's own films.

[A] richly evocative historical novel.

Fascinating... Farndale's panoramic view of pre-war German society on the verge of irreparable change is persuasively evoked.

A novel rich in historical detail, but wearing its research lightly, and the story is told in a French Lieutenant's Woman kind of way, veering from the present to the past with superb flair. With the rise of the alt right again polluting our democracies, this novel has an uncomfortable prescience, with a plot twist at the end which is ingenious.

Enthralling... profound and moving, this is a beautifully written evocation of turbulent times.

A masterly exploration of conflicting loyalties set against the 1936 Olympic Games. Sharply characterised, richly atmospheric and completely engrossing.

A darkly compelling novel, powerfully evocative and beautifully written.

JENNY McCARTNEY, author of the The Ghost Factory

Farndale interweaves history and fiction in a heady mix... engrossing, intriguing and thought-provoking.

the captivating novel by the Richard & Judy bestseller

'[A] riveting novel... a fast-paced, brilliantly constructed thriller, in which the fates of the three young British protagonists hang in the balance at the end of every chapter' A. N. Wilson, SPECTATOR 
 
'I loved the brash brilliance of this' Peter Bradshaw, Guardian film critic 
 
It is the early 1930s, and Europe is holding its breath. As Hitler's grip on power tightens, preparations are being made for the Berlin Olympics. 
 
Leni Riefenstahl is the pioneering, sexually-liberated star film-maker of the Third Reich. She has been chosen by Hitler to capture the Olympics on celluloid but is about to find that even his closest friends have much to fear. 
 
Kim Newlands is the English athlete 'sponsored' by the Blackshirts and devoted to his mercurial, socialite girlfriend Connie. He is driven by a desire to win an Olympic gold but to do that he must first pretend to be someone he is not. 
 
Alun Pryce is the Welsh communist sent to infiltrate the Blackshirts. When he befriends Kim and Connie, his belief that the end justifies the means will be tested to the core. 
 
Through her camera lens and memoirs, Leni is able to manipulate the truth about what happens when their fates collide at the Olympics. But while some scenes from her life end up on the cutting room floor, this does not mean they are lost forever... 
 
'Profound and moving... a beautifully written evocation of turbulent times' Daily Express 
 
'A novel rich in historical detail, but wearing its research lightly, and the story is told in a French Lieutenant's Woman kind of way, veering from the present to the past with superb flair... this novel has an uncomfortable prescience, with a plot twist at the end which is ingenious. - IRISH INDEPENDENT 
 
'A masterly exploration of conflicting loyalties ... Sharply characterised, richly atmospheric and completely engrossing' John Preston, author of The Dig 
 
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Readers love The Dictator's Muse: 
***** 'An addictive, all-consuming read' 
 
***** 'Flows beautifully with love, hopes, desires and propaganda of the time. Fascinating, engaging and terrifying' 
 
***** 'Thoughtful, well researched and atmospheric with engaging characters' 
 
***** 'I can't recommend this book highly enough'

Nigel Farndale

Praise for The Dictator’s Muse

[A] riveting novel... a fast-paced, brilliantly constructed thriller, in which the fates of the three young British protagonists hang in the balance at the end of every chapter. The period detail is as sharply fo ...

[A] richly evocative historical novel.

Fascinating... Farndale's panoramic view of pre-war German society on the verge of irreparable change is persuasively evoked.

[A] riveting novel... a fast-paced, brilliantly constructed thriller, in which the fates of the three young British protagonists hang in the balance at the end of every chapter. The period detail is as sharply fo ...

[A] richly evocative historical novel.

Fascinating... Farndale's panoramic view of pre-war German society on the verge of irreparable change is persuasively evoked.

[A] riveting novel... a fast-paced, brilliantly constructed thriller, in which the fates of the three young British protagonists hang in the balance at the end of every chapter. The period detail is as sharply fo ...

[A] richly evocative historical novel.

Fascinating... Farndale's panoramic view of pre-war German society on the verge of irreparable change is persuasively evoked.

Books by Nigel Farndale

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