A country road, a tree

ISBN: 9781101947180 (hardcover)
ISBN: 1101947187 (hardcover)
ISBN: 9781101971161
ISBN: 1101971169
Physical Description: 289 pages ; 25 cm
Edition: First American edition.
Publisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2016.

Book

A country road, a tree / Jo Baker.

Summary:

"From the best-selling author of Longbourn, a stunning new novel that follows an unnamed writer--Samuel Beckett--whose life and extraordinary literary gift are permanently shaped in the forge of war. When war breaks out in Europe in 1939, a young, unknown writer journeys from his home in neutral Ireland to conflict-ridden Paris and is drawn into the maelstrom. With him we experience the hardships yet stubborn vibrancy at the heart of Europe during the Nazis' rise to power; his friendships with James Joyce and other luminaries; his quietly passionate devotion to the Frenchwoman who will become his lifelong companion; his secret work for the French Resistance and narrow escapes from the Gestapo; his flight from occupied Paris to the countryside; and the rubble of his life after liberation. And through it all we are witness to workings of a uniquely brilliant mind struggling to create a language that will express his experience of this shattered world. Here is a remarkable story of survival and determination, and a portrait of the extremes of human experience alchemized into timeless art"-- Provided by publisher.