The Second World War is over, but young Tomas learns that Europe’s wounds have not yet healed. REDISCOVER THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF A WHITBREAD SHORTLISTED NOVEL 'GOODMAN WRITES WITH FLARE AND PANACHE, AND THE NARRATIVE FIZZES ALONG. GOODMAN'S NOVEL SOARS.' The Times 'BERLIN IS SEEN BRILLIANTLY THROUGH THE HERO’S EYES.' The Scotsman 'A NEW DAWN FOR BRITISH WRITING' The Daily Post Tomas is taught by English war veterans. He walks the ruins of Coventry with his Gran, the city still rebuilding from the blitz. But his mother is German, and as he nears adulthood Tomas finds himself in Berlin. His enigmatic uncle takes him in, a blind, disgraced Nazi soldier. Arm-in-arm, they explore a drastically changing Berlin, leading one another to places new. Tomas finds more family out in Dresden, a city decimated by Allied firebombs, What might a young man make of this shattered legacy? What might we inherit from the wars of our elders, and how might we move on? No matter, Britain has squads of youngish writers trained to squeeze the last drop of moral juice out of the Second World War and its aftermath. It takes a braver soul, like Goodman, to hint that postwar babes should try instead to lay these ghosts to rest.’ The Observer 'A professional combination of rite-of-passage novel and cultural quest.... Berlin is brilliantly seen through the hero’s eyes, as is the character who effectively steals the novel, the blind and autocratic Herr Poppel. The novel comes most to life when Tomas and Poppel are taking their walks around the divided city’s streets and parks... A very impressive debut.' Colin Donald, The Scotsman