Restless
by William Boyd
Ruth Gilmartin finds out unexpectedly that her mother, Sally, is not the person she had always taken her to be. Sally is formerly a British spy, who worked in America during the beginning of World War II to try to convince America to join the war. Sally’s story is told in flashbacks: her recruitment, her training, her love affair with another spy, and her defection after being betrayed. Sally’s story is riveting, a great spy thriller and an interesting look at a part of World War II that I had never heard about before. Unfortunately, the flashback chapters alternate with Ruth’s life in the present day, which is tedious and irritating.
Toby wrote:
Did you read Boyd’s “Any Human Heart”? One of the best novels I’ve read in the last couple of years…
Posted 30 Jul 2007 at 8:54 pm ¶
anna wrote:
Nope, this is the first one I read. I requested “Any Human Heart” at the library, but it hasn’t come in yet
Posted 06 Aug 2007 at 10:16 pm ¶
Lucy gould wrote:
I found “Restless” very readable but it didn’t fulfill its promise in that the plot was very thin. The mysterious coming and going kept me interested in what would or may have been an outcome of all that espionage but in fact the end was flat. I also thought that the two voices of Sal and Ruth merged into the same character and there wasn’t much differentiating the two characters. The mother first introduced in the wheel chair seemed to be ancient and then turns out to be 66 yrs old. Good read but not much meat on the bone.
Posted 22 Apr 2008 at 6:34 pm ¶