22 Britannia Road: A Novel

I like this book. It is avery intersesting, especially as we see each person's perspective seperately through each event. Brings up some very interesting incidents and tells us just how desperate times become in wartime.

I have to totally agree with the last review. The book shows so many signs of being great, but has way too many melodramas that detract from what the real crux of the story. Yes, the war was incredibly rough, causing the heartaches these people had to get over, but there are so many pages and details about Silvana's living in the woods that dragged the story away from the heart of it all. As much as I wanted to like Silvana and Aureck, they never quite became worthy of being liked.

Like other critical reviewers, I thought this novel was poorly written, strained credibility, and lacked characterization. Starting from a great premise, the author was not able to create coherent characters or to put them in quasi-plausible situations. Aside from the lack of coherence of the two main characters, they just weren't very attractive people prior to the war and there wasn't much to make me care about them or about their fate.

This had the potential for being a good book because the premise was interesting, but I never was able to get into the characters. The writing is very choppy - almost as if a foreigner is trying to write in English. There some chapters which are laughable in their plausability and detract from the story. From the beginning, you know that the two main characters are disconnected, but from the way it was written, you really don't understand how they ever got together or loved each other in the first place. Even when the characters begin to get close, they still feel like strangers to the reader. There is no empathy with them. I spent $12.99 and felt it was a waste of money at any price.

This is the story of a Polish couple, Silvana and Janusz and their son Aurek. They met and married in 1937. As both the Russians and the Germans invaded Poland in 1940 the couple is separated. He joins the military and after a long journey, typical of Poles who chose to fight on after the defeat of their country, ends up in the RAF in England. She initially raped by a German soldier, flees with their son to a live in the forests of Poland. The story opens in 1946 as the couple is reunited after their six year separation. Building on the memories of a deeply loving relationship before the war the couple tries to reestablish their family life. Each has secrets that they do not share with thevother. These secrets, the crux of the story, are slowly revealed in two separate threads. No more spoilers from me on the story!

This book is vividly written and has complexity to the plot that continues to draw you in right up until the last chapter. The long lasting effects of war on people are brilliantly portrayed in the story. In post war Britain, the couple has every advantage- an intact family, a house, a car, a good job - but the lingering effects of what happened to them during the war destroy their chances to go forward. The son has been deeply influenced by his time in the forests avoiding both Germans and Russians and living off the land. In one scene his father shows him how to collect and save birds eggs and the boy can only think of how he wants to eat the eggs contents as he did so often in the forests. He has a particularly difficult time socializing and entering into normal relationships. It was heartbreaking and at times almost too sad to bear. In the end though this story is a triumph of the human spirit over adversity.

British author Amanda Hodgkinson's first novel, "22 Britania Road", is a strong debut. Set in England right after the end of WW2, she writes about a Polish couple, married before the war in Warsaw, who are reunited after the war, in England. Both have had very bad experiences; Silvana and their young son have lived the Polish countryside and forests for the six years of German and Russian occupation of the country fighting to stay alive, and Janusz has fled Poland after the German invasion and has roamed around Europe, finally arriving in England in the last years of the war. When they are reunited in London, they settle down together in Ipswich, where they learn to love each other again. And to make a family with their young son, Aurek.

But both have paid a price for their respective survivals during the war. There's a lot to confess to each other, and a lot to hide. Hodgkinson writes a quiet novel, bouncing back between current life in post-war England and war-time life. The secrets of love and loss that both have to hide make a rapprochement difficult.

"22 Britania Road" is not an easy novel to read. It's well-written and the description of post-war life in England is very good. The characters are vividly drawn. But the novel is full of painful truths. And that's probably close to the real stories of post-war Europe as people who once loved each other and were separated and survived the war, must find each other - and themselves - again.

This is another offering to the plethora of WWII novels. Amanda Hodgkinson's debut novel is the story of a Polish family that is separated at the beginning of the war, Janusz goes off to fight for his country, and Silvana, his wife, is left in Warsaw to somehow get herself and their small child, Aurek, to her in-laws. After the war they are reunited in England, and try to create a typical English suburban life, but they both have suffered too much and harbor too many secrets to make this a reality.

This is a well-written novel, fluid and descriptive, but it lacks the power to evoke any real emotion for any of her characters or their situations. Janusz actually has a pretty easy time of it during the war compared to Silvana, but he comes across as self-pitying. Silvana who survives living in the forest for most of the war and witnesses many horrors comes across as weak and indecisive. In the hands of a more skillful writer I think she could have created an unforgettable and haunting novel such as the Gendarme or The Pearl Diver, but instead I think it will be quickly forgotten shortly after reading.

I did like that she explores themes of redemption, the definition of family, and the power to overcome loss; themes that give the reader pause to think of their own ideas and beliefs.

I also liked that her characters were Polish and much of the book was set in Poland. This seems to be a country that is overlooked in WWII novels for some reason (Why is that?)

Overall I would give this 3.5 stars and would say it was worth the time to read, but certainly not a must read, nor a particularly memorable one.

Silvanna irritated me all through the book. I did not enjoy her at all. Janusz was a real man wanting a family and putting everything into it including being a father to Aurek even though Aurek was like a wild animal and considered him a enemy throughout most of the book. He was pathologically attached to his mother. Although somewhat understandable I still thought his mother being older and wiser would help him get over that but I guess she was not the psychologically healthy and brave. I did finish the whole book though.and didn't think the ending was particularly realistic. The boy was young enough to relearn and adjust but Silvanna was too psychologically damaged to heal without help. I couldn't see them making it from that day forward. Oh and please lets not talk about her weak morals going off with Tony. Hope I am not to harsh here but that is how I feel and didn't enjoy the history of the book as much as I should have maybe. I don't really recommend this book. Thinking abiout it further Iam not sure all of her problems were cause by the war she must have had so going in. I also didn't like the jumping around in time and places, just a personal thing I guess.

As a male reader and someone who was responsible for droppping bombs only
God knows where, this novel is about the human tragedy of war. Having read the most critical review, I would venture to guess that person has never spent much time outdoors, in a survival situation. Having the experience of a controlled survial school, I know that its possible to survive under the most adverse conditions. When I was in Guam, in 1966, there were three Japanese soldiers still living in the Jungle, without food in a Jungle filled with snakes, tropical disease, and an island 10 by 30 miles.

I would consider this a women's novel, so much has to do with a women's need for protecting children. However, it does show the need for men to have the dream of commercial sucesss and a home and wife, albiet a "trophy", not a necessity.

Unless someone who has been separted from home and family has actually experienced that condition, you will never know how difficult it is to maintain relationships, no matter how deep and trusting can be. A years separation such as the US had during Viet Nam, can not compare to the years of separation during WWII. For the British, the war lasted 6 years. Unfortunately, it lasted for almost 60 years for those countries that fell behind the Iron Curtain.

Since Poland was conquered in such a short period of time, from both the Nazi's and Soviet invading from the East, many Poles excaped because the conquerors did not have time to close the borders as they did in the months following the intial invasion. It is historically correct, that many Poles somehow made it to England, and because of their service, were permitted to bring wifes and children to their adopted country.

It was not "far fetched" that Poles, and others, like the French,Italians, and others lived outside the tentacles of the invading armies. They lived and survived in dreadful circumstances, and often witness the horrible deaths of their loved ones. It was not unresonable that the child's identity was kept secret. Many families who adopt children, never tell them of their biological parentage. And many returning veterans accepted children as their own, since many had fathered children of their own in a "two way"exceptional reality of human need for love.

The novel is well written, abscent the gory, obscene language of modern novels. It does create characters who are not trite. At times, the descriptions are poetic. My only literaru critque is many time and location change. I can no longer read novels, and generally listen to audibles.

If some readers found the main characters confusing or shallow, war often makes hollow men out of normal men and women. The survivors of war must go from a normal life, to an abnormal condition, and back to peacetime. Many of those who have not shared such experiences often do not understand their difficulty. They do not understand that even those who managed to excape physical harm, still suffered mental harm. The fashionable term is Post Traumtic Sydrome, which was once called "battle fatique" The author goes a long way towards describing two people and a child who have suffered, and for those who like happy endings, it seems she has provided one.

World War II shatters the lives of Janusz and Silvana. Janusz goes off to war to protect Poland but soon gets separated from his regiment. He flees to France. Silvana flee into the forests of Eastern Europe with her son Aurek where they witness the brutality of the Germans. After the war, Janusz learns of her status in a refugee camp. In 1946, the story's opening, Silvana travels to England to reunite with her husband. Together they try to reestablish their marriage and lead a proper British life. Will this family, now reunited, be able to put the war behind them? Secrets have a way of returning. Will they be able to cling to each other instead of the past?

In her debut novel, Amanda Hodgkinson writes a moving tale of a Polish family's attempt to put the pieces of their lives together in the aftermath of war. The narrative alternates between past and present (the present day being post-WWII) as well as between Janusz and Silvana, giving the reader insight into both characters. Janusz clings to an idea of living the perfect English life with a sense of control over his surroundings. Now safe, the effects of war linger on within Silvana. Often times, in contrast to her husband, she seems a passive agent in the world around her. Aurek shows the effects of war most dramatically in his difficulty in relating to the people and world around him.

22 BRITANNIA ROAD is a sad yet heart-warming account of one family's attempt to reconstruct their lives in the aftermath of war and displacement from their roots and family. 22 BRITANNIA ROAD focuses on the familial relationship rather than historical details of the war. The reader feels the war through its effects on the daily activities and hearts of the individuals within the story. The melancholic tone of the story resonates from a prose that is at times poetic in its pace and imagery. Moments in the narrative are often simple yet precise and all the more moving in the author's ability to focus on the small moments in life that reveal so much. Amanda Hodgkinson does not overwrite scenes. The emotional power of her narrative emerges from the simple uncluttered writing style, a style that focuses in on daily life. From these daily routines and the characters' response to them, the sometimes slight incongruities evoke the depth of the war's effects hidden within the heart. Several twists at the end force the characters to make choices, choices that force them to cling to life rather than the past.

Courtesy of Book Illuminations

Many books about war focus on the fighting and dislocation that it causes. This book does that too, but it focuses more on what happens after the war is over and how hard it is for people to pick up the pieces. Our two main characters, very much in love before the war, are separated when he leaves their home in Warsaw to fight with the Polish army against the Nazis. She's left to try and survive along with their son. Fast forward six long years later. Both have survived physically and are trying to return to life but it's hard... very hard. They both had survived the war, but in very different ways, with their own demons and secrets. The book, in many ways, is about whether a couple - with a sound beginning but such wrenching middle to their marriage - can survive that and stay together. Along the way we meet, and suffer with or despise, many friends, family and enemies. And we see what the war does to each of them.

The book builds on itself - stick with it - I found it much more engaging at the end once I knew the characters and their stories better. There's a lot of pain in this book, but hope too. A very nice read.

World War II shatters the lives of Janusz and Silvana. Janusz goes off to war to protect Poland but soon gets separated from his regiment. He flees to France. Silvana flee into the forests of Eastern Europe with her son Aurek where they witness the brutality of the Germans. After the war, Janusz learns of her status in a refugee camp. In 1946, the story's opening, Silvana travels to England to reunite with her husband. Together they try to reestablish their marriage and lead a proper British life. Will this family, now reunited, be able to put the war behind them? Secrets have a way of returning. Will they be able to cling to each other instead of the past?

In her debut novel, Amanda Hodgkinson writes a moving tale of a Polish family's attempt to put the pieces of their lives together in the aftermath of war. The narrative alternates between past and present (the present day being post-WWII) as well as between Janusz and Silvana, giving the reader insight into both characters. Janusz clings to an idea of living the perfect English life with a sense of control over his surroundings. Now safe, the effects of war linger on within Silvana. Often times, in contrast to her husband, she seems a passive agent in the world around her. Aurek shows the effects of war most dramatically in his difficulty in relating to the people and world around him.

22 BRITANNIA ROAD is a sad yet heart-warming account of one family's attempt to reconstruct their lives in the aftermath of war and displacement from their roots and family. 22 BRITANNIA ROAD focuses on the familial relationship rather than historical details of the war. The reader feels the war through its effects on the daily activities and hearts of the individuals within the story. The melancholic tone of the story resonates from a prose that is at times poetic in its pace and imagery. Moments in the narrative are often simple yet precise and all the more moving in the author's ability to focus on the small moments in life that reveal so much. Amanda Hodgkinson does not overwrite scenes. The emotional power of her narrative emerges from the simple uncluttered writing style, a style that focuses in on daily life. From these daily routines and the characters' response to them, the sometimes slight incongruities evoke the depth of the war's effects hidden within the heart. Several twists at the end force the characters to make choices, choices that force them to cling to life rather than the past.

Courtesy of Book Illuminations

Many books about war focus on the fighting and dislocation that it causes. This book does that too, but it focuses more on what happens after the war is over and how hard it is for people to pick up the pieces. Our two main characters, very much in love before the war, are separated when he leaves their home in Warsaw to fight with the Polish army against the Nazis. She's left to try and survive along with their son. Fast forward six long years later. Both have survived physically and are trying to return to life but it's hard... very hard. They both had survived the war, but in very different ways, with their own demons and secrets. The book, in many ways, is about whether a couple - with a sound beginning but such wrenching middle to their marriage - can survive that and stay together. Along the way we meet, and suffer with or despise, many friends, family and enemies. And we see what the war does to each of them.

The book builds on itself - stick with it - I found it much more engaging at the end once I knew the characters and their stories better. There's a lot of pain in this book, but hope too. A very nice read.

22 BRITANNIA ROAD

All Janusz wants to do is meet up with his wife and little son and become a family again. Separated during World War II, Janusz hasn't seen his family in years. He was a solider, seeing all the horrors war has to offer up. Where is his wife? Where is his little baby son? Are they alive?

Silvana, Janusz's wife is alive, along with Aurek their little son. She has had horrors and atrocities of her own to face daily; the two have been living off and on in the deep, dark, cold forests, living day by day, minute by minute, trying to just survive and escape the soldiers who are everywhere, looking for a pretty woman who is alone.

Silvana and Janusz finally reunite and try to make a home at 22 Britannia Road in England. Janusz wants so badly to have a family -- his family -- back with him and wants desperately for them all to be happy. However, it's hard for both Silvana and Janusz to be together after all of their years apart. War, scrabbling to stay alive, being apart, these factors have all built bridges between the man and woman who were once so much in love. Also, both of them have secrets that happened while they were apart and these secrets keep them cautious and reticent with each other. Will these secrets come to light? Can they save their marriage?

And as for Janusz's relationship with Aurek, that is difficult to say the least. The boy has an overwhelming and unusual love and need for his mother and difficulties are on the way. Janusz tries so hard to be a father to Aurek, but finds him strange and almost animal-like in his behavior. Is resentment becoming a factor in the father/son relationship? Will they ever love and respect each other? Aurek, young as he is, secretly refers to his father as 'the enemy'.

This book tells the story of both Silvana and Janusz independently during the war and again once they are reunited. Travel with them back in time as they face the terrors of war, meeting up with different people in hopeless situations, trying to stay alive, trying to get back to each other. The book jumps back and forth between past and present, bringing the reality and grimness of the war to light.

It is historical fiction that will certainly interest any history buff. The book reads well and has many secrets, twists and turns, and surprises for the reader. At times, for me and in my humble opinion, the book seemed to move slowly. However, overall it was a good and interesting read, a book that I will be recommending to friends and family.

Thank you.

Pam

In order to survive, Silvana and her infant son Aurek hid in the woods of Poland for the six years that Janusz was away during World War II. By the end of the War, Janusz is now living in England. With the help of the Red Cross, he finds Silvana and Aurek, only to discover that six years away from one another is a lifetime of secrets. Although they attempt to put things back together, the attentions of another man toward Silvana cause the facade they have so carefully built to come crumbling to the ground.

This is my kind of novel; the one that keeps you up all night reading "one more chapter". Set in World War II and post-WWII, primarily in Poland, France, and England, Ms. Hodgkinson has drawn such a clear picture of what it was like in those areas that the reader can almost feel as though they have stepped into Silvana or Janusz's shoes. Her descriptions of the forests were so vivid that I could almost smell the earthy smell of the forest. Silvana's character is such a sympathetically written one that even when the reader finally understands what she has done to survive, it is easy for the reader to understand and forgive.

If this is what she can do for a first novel, I look forward to reading Amanda Hodgkinson's future works. 5 stars

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 <[...]"Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Janusz and Silva are a young married couple, with a beautiful son named Aurek, and just beginning to settle into the family life when Poland is invaded by Germany. The war coming home results in Janusz joining the Military, and this results in the separation of this beautiful little family. Having been left to survive in Poland, Silva takes her Aurek and flees towards the forest, where she must fend for herself and her son.

Going through every hardship imaginable, living in the wilderness and almost becoming part of it, Silva manages to survive for six long years, and eventually finds her way into a refugee camp. Janusz, with the help of a social worker, locates his wife and child in this camp. The horrors of the war, and the fight for survival for Silva and Aurek was really difficult to read. As for Janusz, we see him becoming number and number to the effects of war, a common practice for soldiers trying to keep their wits about them, and detach themselves from the pain of having been separated from their loved ones. It is as if he has decided that he will become like water, complacent and moulding to whichever situation he is thrust into.

The real story in this emotional novel, is of the homecoming of Silva and Aurek. Of this family getting back together - except, they are no longer a family. Time, and the difficulties of war, have hardened Janusz, Silva and even Aurek. Janusz and Silva are no longer the young, happily married couple - they are both soldiers, having fought for their lives through a war. "22 Britannia Road" is the story of the re-mapping of Janusz and Silva's lives. "22 Britannia Road" is where Janusz and Silva must re-discover themselves, re-learn each other, and decide how much of who they were before the war has been retained. This book is a prime example of how the fighting doesn't end with war...people find themselves fighting themselves, each others, and fate long after the battles of war are over.

Unlike William Styron's brilliant Sophie's Choice, which ended in tragedy, this fine debut novel about another Polish mother's World War II plight leaves the reader with a sense of hope.
Amanda Hodgkinson manages the enormous literary feat of capturing the sounds, sights and smells of the most momentous decade of the 20th Century, including pre-war Poland and post-war Britain, with an incredible eye for detail, the result of prodigious research.
Silvana Nowak's trek through the ruins of Europe with her increasingly odd little boy, Aurek, to a reunion with her husband in England after the war would be enough for any novelist to hang her hat on. But Hodgkinson shows us that Silvana's battle has entered a new phase in England, one that she must win to justify all her previous sacrifices. The Nowaks are all strangers in a strange land, where their existence as a family is threatened not by jack-booted soldiers but by the secrets they brought with them.
Most of 22 Britannia Road is beautifully written. There are exceptions. After Silvana and Janusz first make love in the days before the war: "She would always remember feeling enormous that day, a giant woman, her hardness melted into softness, driven away by the sudden generosity of her body, the beginnings of their son already trawling in her juices."
A line like that belongs in a bodice-ripping Romance novel.
But Hodgkinson redeems herself, time and again, with a passage like this, about Aurek: He will not mention the fledglings he stole from nests or the strips of birch bark he chewed on in the dead of winter. Even a child knows that it is shameful to admit to that kind of hunger."

Polish immigrant Janusz has established a home at 22 Britannia Road in Ipswich and he eagerly waits to be joined by his wife Sylvana and young son Aurek who have survived World War II by hiding in the forests of Poland. Thus begins the story in Amanda Hodgkinson's new novel 22 Britannia Road.

Janusz, Sylvana and Aurek are survivors. They are anxious to begin their lives again. But peacetime does not erase all the memories and theya all have scars and secrets that threaten to tear them apart when they've just reunited.

Aurek, who doesn't remember his father and has just spent the last six years alone with his mother, is jealous of his father as he takes his rightful place in his mother's bed. The jealousy and attempts at rebuilding a relationship, remind me of Frank O'Connor's short story by the appropriate title of "My Oedipus Complex".

22 Britannia Road is a powerful family drama full of betrayals, suffering yet ultimately forgiveness and redemption. Hodgkinson writes with wisdom and with a skill that makes her style completely disappear and the story and characters take over. Her characters are painfully human. As with other well written books about the fall-out from war, 22 Britannia Road is emotionally stirring and a compelling read.

This review was originally published on the blogspot blog Girl Who Reads.

I hate Doris!!

Okay, now that I got that out of my system I can start my review properly. As I said in my video, I discovered 22 Britannia Road after reading the review on Bonnie's blog Hands and Home. I started this blog with Skeletons at the Feast because I loved the book and wanted to tell more people about it. Before reading it though I had read The Zookeeper's Wife. Why am I giving you a run down of what I've read. Growing up, I read a lot of historical fiction. Mostly in the WWII era. However, they focused on soldiers or POWs. So when I returned to reading historical fiction, I was looking for something a bit different. These three books have something in common. They all deal more with the civilians, the families left behind.

As an American, I don't know what it is like to live through war that is happening in my backyard. And as frequent readers of my blog you know that I enjoy stories where the characters have to struggle but that human spirit persevere in overcoming the harshest of obstacles. One thing 22 Britannia Road did not have in common with The Zookeeper's Wife and Skeletons at the Feast is that it is purely fiction. The later works were what I call creative non-fiction. Actual documents and often personal journal entries of the main characters fueled the story and the authors just filled in the plot holes to weave a realistic story. While I fully enjoyed 22 Britannia Road, I did feel something was missing something. I think it was the touches of reality. Not that what Silvana and Janusz went through could not have been what other survivors experienced, but it felt more of a possibility and not a true how it was. Does that make sense?

The writing was superb. Amanda Hodgkinson did a wonderful job of connecting the reader with her characters. When Jan would write to his parents, I found myself wondering if he was ever able to reconnect to them and what may have happened to them. I kind of wish that we had a side story that gave us a glimpse. Even now, I still wonder about their story as if they were real people. I was afraid that I would become confused by the jumping back and forth between the past and present and characters, but each subplot was clearly defined making it easy for the reader to fall right into the story.

If you are looking for a historical fiction novel that tells a different story. A book with complicated characters trying to regain their life after living through hell. Characters who don't always make the right decision, yet you understand why the make those choices. Then please give 22 Britannia Road a chance.

22 Britannia Road, by Amanda Hodgkinson, is a first novel about the struggle of two-Polish ex-patriots readjusting to life after WWII in England. In this ambitious novel, Janusz, Silvana and their son Aurek are split up during the war while Janusz goes to fight and Silvana and Aurek try to survive. It is a good (not great), readable, sentimental novel.

The novel proceeds with three story lines -- Janusz's experience fighting against the Nazis; Silvana's struggle to take care of her infant; and their attempt to reconstruct a family and rebuild a life in England after the war. At the outset, Janusz goes to battle and ends up joining the English military. He has difficult war experiences. Silvana and Aurek flee Warsaw and survive in the forests and on the benevolence of peasants. When the family is reunited in England after the war, Aurek, who grew up in the forest, must learn to cope in civilization (a slight hint of Room by Emma Donaghue here). Silvana, who is fiercely protective of her son, must rebuild a relationship with her husband across the chasm of horrific experiences and choices they each have made.

Hodgkinson develops the main characters reasonably well (the supporting characters are very stereotypical) and delivers a few interesting plot twists. That said, Silvana's development is a bit predictable and while Janusz has hard experiences, he does not make hard choices. While the novel is a very good debut, the story does not hit it out of the park.

If you liked Major Petrigrew's Last Stand, The Invisible Bridge, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society or other similar books, you probably will enjoy this one. If those are not quite for you, you should pass on it.

Housekeeper or housewife?" the soldier asks Silvana as she and eight- year-old Aurek board the ship that will take them from Poland to England at the end of World War II. There her husband, Janusz, is already waiting for them at the little house at 22 Britannia Road. But the war has changed them all so utterly that they'll barely recognize one another when they are reunited. "Survivor," she answers.

Silvana and Aurek spent the war hiding in the forests of Poland. Wild, almost feral Aurek doesn't know how to tie his own shoes or sleep in a bed. Janusz is an Englishman now-determined to forget Poland, forget his own ghosts from the way, and begin a new life as a proper English family. But for Silvana, who cannot escape the painful memory of a shattering wartime act, forgetting is not a possibility.

One of the most searing debuts to come along in years, 22 Britannia Road is the wrenching chronicle of how these damaged people try to become, once again, a true family. An unforgettable novel that cries out for discussion, it is a powerful story of primal maternal love, overcoming hardship, and, ultimately, acceptance-one that will pierce your heart.

My Thoughts: 22 Britannia road painted a raw and vivid picture of what the survivors of WWII had to do to survive the war. Hodgkinson has an amazing ability to convey the fear, desperation, perseverance, strength and hope that the survivors carried with them through the war and the years that followed it.

So often we read books about WWII that talk about the horrors that the men who fought were faced with - and indeed their experiences were scarring. However in this novel we are given a look at what the people left at home had to go through themselves; famine, living constantly on the run, the fear of being captured and killed or worse, by enemy troops. Hodgkinson writes about loss, hopelessness, and determination brilliantly. 22 Britannia Road is not always a happy novel, but how could it be when it so wonderfully portrays the life of a WWII survivor? My heart caught in my chest as I read about what Silvana had to do to protect her son Aurek during the war years, it was absolutely incredible to see how a woman could protect the child she so loved when she literally had nothing to protect herself with.

I loved the way that Hodgkinson went back in time to reveal bits and pieces of what happened to Silvana, Aurek, and Janusz during the war years. This gave me as a reader a greater understanding and appreciation for the characters and their behaviours as Silvana, Aurek and Janusz attempt to live together again as a family. I think it would have been an unbearably heartbreaking read if it had been written any other way. Sometimes this sort of jumping around in time can get confusing or tiresome but in the case of 22 Britannia Road it was always done smoothly and logically and I found it enhanced my reading experience rather than hindered it.

Hodgkinson wrote a deeply moving and thought provoking historical fiction and forced me to consider the fact that sometimes those left at home had to work harder to survive the war, and were left with deeper scars than those who left to fight it. 22 Britannia Road was my first introduction to Amanda Hodgkinson as an author and I know that I will be reading more of her work in the future!

I received a free copy of 22 Britannia Road from the publisher Penguin Group Canada (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

In Hodgkinson's first novel a young Polish couple and their 7-year-old son Aurek, separated for six years during WWII, reunite in England at war's end in 1946.

If only it were that simple.

Janusz Nowak is eager to leave the war behind and embrace an English way of life. After locating his wife and son in a Polish refugee camp, he arranges to bring them to England. While waiting he rents a house and begins to make a home, papering and painting, buying furniture, creating a real English garden, meeting the neighbors. And all the while thinking of Helene, the French girl he fell in love with during the war.

His wife, Sylvana, gray-haired at 29, is drained. "She had been lost and he had found her. He must have thought he was reaching back into the past; that she would be as she was when he left her, his young wife, red hair pinned up in curls, a smile on her face, and their darling son in her arms. He couldn't know that the past was dead and she was the ghost of the wife he once had." She makes the journey primarily to give Aurek a father.

Aurek, severely traumatized, recognizing his father's immediate threat to his exclusive relationship with his mother, privately dubs Janusz "the enemy." On their first night together in England, Aurek is confined to his own room while his mother and Janusz attempt a tentative reunion.

Janusz pushes thoughts of Helene out of his head as Sylvana responds to him. "His loneliness falls away from him like unbuttoned clothes. Maybe this will be all right. Maybe they can do this."

Then a different touch in the dark sends him scrambling out of bed. "Janusz turns on the main light and the child looks at him, staring him down with wide, dark eyes. There's a possessive, adult fierceness in the boy's gaze that leaves Janusz speechless for a moment." Brushing past him, Aurek climbs into their bed to nurse.

From this inauspicious beginning the story drops back to weave between past and present. War experiences emerge in alternating points of view from Janusz and Sylvana, while the passages in the present encompass all three points of view. From the beginning it's clear that their unshared past is full of horrors and secrets and as their separate stories take shape, the secrets multiply, blighting their chances of a shared future.

After Janusz leaves to join the Polish army Sylvana waits a little too long to leave Warsaw. Raped by a German soldier, she finally flees with her baby but in all the chaos she cannot get to family, but only run, directionless.

Meanwhile, Janusz is soon separated from his unit during a German bombing raid and wanders off by himself, mildly shell-shocked. He takes possession of a dead woman's cottage and passes his days in a limbo of indecision until two more soldiers find him and the three join forces to stay one step ahead of the advancing Germans and find an army to fight in.

Janusz has seen plenty of death and atrocity during his war, but we know from the start that Sylvana and Aurek's war has been worse. Hodgkinson tells her story in lyrical, straightforward prose. Without a shred of bathos or preachiness she emphasizes the timeless irony - that in war-torn countries it's the non-combatants who suffer most, preyed upon by invaders and often their own neighbors as well.

Janusz, as a soldier, has a network of people who help him, shelter him and hail him as a hero. Sylvana does not encounter much charity or kindness, but she learns to survive, given the luck that is really the only essential for survival. No one is going to laud her as a hero for it, however.

And when the war is done Sylvana's and especially Aurek's new skills are ill suited for English suburban life. Aurek, in particular, with his talent for bird noises, his lack of table manners and his feral antisocial behavior, is a misfit not likely to make friends or help cement a family.

Hodgkinson portrays all three with sympathy and a depth of understanding that pulls the reader into the immediacy of their lives. Although we know they can never really become a family while separated by so many secrets, we also know that revealing those secrets would destroy their future as well. How the author resolves this dilemma will have readers on the edge of their seats.

A deeply affecting, complex novel, driven by primal truths and the subtleties of character, Hodgkinson's debut is a standout.

-- Portsmouth Herald

"22 Britannia Road" is a strong debut novel from Amanda Hodgkinson about picking up the pieces after World War II. Janusz and Silvana Nowack are newlyweds who barely out of adolesence and with a year old baby, Aurek. When Germany and Russia invade their homeland of Poland, Janusz goes to enlist and tells Silvana to leave Warsaw and go to his parents in the country. Unfortunately, things don't turn out quite as Janusz planned, and he ends up getting separated from his regiment and going on the run with a couple of other deserters until he can reach France and then England. Silvana has to take to the forest, where she and Aurek hide for six years and become as wild as their surroundings. When the Allies arrive in Poland, Silvana and Aurek are sent to a refugee camp, where, with the help of a social worker, Janusz finds them and brings them to Ipswich, on the coast of England, to start a new life at 22 Britannia Road. Janusz and Silvana quickly learn that it will be impossible to go back to how things were before the war, especially when both of them have secrets from their time apart that they would prefer the other never learn.

This is a story that is at times very difficult to read because the characters can seem callous. I had to keep reminding myself that in wartime, particularly during World War II, the survival instinct governs most decisions, and this made a lot Janusz and Silvana's actions easier to stomach. The fact that it took so long for Silvana and Aurek to leave behind their habits from the forest also rang very true, especially as the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors who continue to be affected by the war. Aurek was most interesting to watch as he learned to trust the father he never knew and to feel safe in a home that wasn't in the wild.

The ups and downs of Janusz and Silvana's story kept me thoroughly engaged, from their vastly different experiences during World War II to their attempts to build a new life in England. I spent the entire time wondering if they were going to make it and if their secrets, as they were revealed, would destroy them. This became even more important as Aurek grew comfortable with his new life.

Ms. Hodgkinson also captured the various eras and settings of the novel beautifully. I especially loved her depiction of post-war, age-of-austerity England and the difficulties that Janusz encountered in trying to achieve a prosperous life as a foreigner in a country under hard times.

"22 Brittania Road" was one of those books that I sped through in a matter of hours. It's a truly incredible read with a very satisfying resolution, and I can't wait to see more from Ms. Hodgskinson.

Their love was once young and playful. They had each other, their son, and the beginnings of a promising future. Then came the war. With the advent of World War II, Janusz, a patriotic man, went off to fight, while his wife and son planned to stay with her in-laws. But Warsaw was overtaken more quickly than anyone thought possible, and Silvana found that she had hesitated too long. She and the boy barely escape into the woods, where they face new and different horrors.

Six years separated the once happy family. Janusz had almost lost any hope of finding his wife and son. Then a miracle happened, and the family was reunited. But now, as long as Poland remains under Communist rule, the family will not return to their homeland. They settle into a peasant cottage in England, at 22 Britannia Road. Janusz works hard to provide for his family, and Silvana tries to adjust to living in a house again. Their six-year-old son Aurek clings to his mother, not sure he's comfortable with his new surroundings.

In no time at all, they learn that recapturing the carefree days of their early marriage is going to be harder than anyone imagined. The war has not only robbed them of six years together, it has left them strangers to each other. While Silvana wants her son to have a life with two parents, Aurek views his father with mistrust and fear. It's little wonder. The men who Aurek and his mother encountered during their exile in the forest sought more in the way of opportunity than honor. Silvana did what she had to do to survive and keep her son safe. Unfortunately, what it did to her spirit and her psyche may unravel her marriage. She thought she could make it work, but as the days stretch on, she's unsure.

"She had been lost and he [Janusz] had found her. He must have thought he was reaching back into the past; that she would be as she was when he left her....He couldn't know that the past was dead and she was the ghost of the wife he once had."

The casualties of war aren't confined just to soldiers. Unthinkable atrocities occur as though all the laws of civilized man have been suspended. The ones left behind are often at the mercy of inscrutable people. Silvana and Aurek found themselves the victims of such men no matter how hard they tried to avoid them. Now it would be wonderful to take up where they had left off, if only the memories of the intervening time could be erased. But they must face their new realities.

22 BRITANNIA ROAD, Amanda Hodgkinson's stunning debut novel, is a moving story of survival as well as a story of love and redemption. Written with heartbreaking emotion, its message will find a way to touch every reader.

--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers

This is a powerful and moving, but sad story about a family torn apart by war. The story moves back and forth in time (pre-WWII, during the war, and after the war), location (Poland, France, crossing the channel, and England) and between three characters - wife/mother, husband/father and child/son. Despite the fact that the story involves very painful topics - death of family members, rape, loss of loved ones, separation, witnessing violent deaths, etc. - the story was not depressing. I believe the story is a good first start from this author. I think the transition from each character's point of view, was done well but perhaps could have been done better. I did not like the male protagonist. I thought he was weak and easily influenced, but ultimately he does right by his family. I also thought that the silence and secrets between the reunited characters was overly dramatic, I just did not believe the level of secrecy and lack of intimacy between them but then I have never survived a war while separated from my spouse. I was completely surprised by the twist in the story and the revelation still breaks my heart. I am giving this 4 stars, while I think it is a 3.5 star book because the story left me emotionally moved and thinking about the characters. I believe if a reader is a fan of literary fiction, interested in the post-WWII time period, or interested in stories of surviving and moving on - then this book will be enjoyed. It isn't the best book I have ever read, but it is good.

22 Britannia Road By Amanda Hodgkinson

3.5 Stars Round up to 4

22 Britannia Road is a novel surrounding a family and their home in England. Janusz, Silvana and Aurek all live there after surviving WWII in Poland. It tells their stories alternating between the present with them united in England and the past involving what Janusz and Silvana went through during the war. They were not together as a family at that time. Janusz left Silvanna and their infant son Aurek to join the military. That begins traumatic events that span 6 years until they are reunited after Janusz searches for them in war ravaged Poland.

I have read many books surrounding WWII both fiction and non-fiction. They all seem the same in the tragedies that were suffered and are all very emotionally driven. This one was a page turner for me and I finished it in two days; I don't have a lot of reading time. I liked the format of alternating chapters in the past and present. It was powerful and hit me emotionally. Everytime I read a book in this era recently it surprises me the impact this war had and all the prespectives there are. I know that sounds ridiculous, I know it was called a World War for a reason. I focused and I think a lof people do so much on Germany and Hitler that the others involved are forgotten. At least for me that is how it was, I never really even focused on the Japanese involvement until I read Unbroken and Hotel on the Corner Of Bitter and Sweet.

I am clearly drawn to this time in history and I am glad that I spent time with this one. I'm sure there are many more to come.

Coming home is sometimes not easy, and coming home to a new country, after many years of separation due to the war, is very difficult, indeed. Silvana and her son, Aurek, come home to post war England, after being saved from a camp by her long lost husband, Janusz. All of them have their own secrets and in this novel, the author, Amanda Hodgkinson, allows each of them to tell their own stories. Janusz and Silvana and Aurek share their points of view, via flashbacks.

This is a moving story of a mother's love for her son. She is his only security and he, hers. Janusz had expected an easier acceptance, but he did not really understand what the War did to his wife and son. Silvana and Aurek, still in Poland, hid in the forests and foraged for their food and life. They tried to escape the German soldiers and were fairly successful. The story follows this family as they try to rebuild their lives. Silvana learning English, the wild boy, Aurek, becoming a student and the father, Janusz falling in love again with his wife and son. Secrets come undone and truths are told. The novel follows a well developed but over led path. I wanted to know more about these people, but I could guess how it would end. The characters are so likable and lovable.
Much of this book is beautifully written.

Highly Recommended. prisrob 06-08-11

Amanda Hodgkinson has written a gem of a book! Her use of language compels the reader to continue to actively think while reading the story. What evils did the characters witness during the war? Why are they so reluctant to speak of the experiences that have so changed them? The stories unfold as the characters tell the backstories interspersed with their current story. By reading critically readers will pick up the discreet foreshadowing of events. Voice and place change often so the reader must pay attention to the chapter titles. The depth of each character is revealed and readers will get to know them intimately. Some are more likeable than others but who is really a "bad" person is between the reader and the text. I could make a case on both sides of the discussion for most of the book's characters. This book would be a fantastic choice for a book club and it will produce a lively discussion. There are many rich talking points.

I really like that this a WWII story without it being a Holocaust survivor story. There are many victims during wartime and while WWII literature is so rich with important and necessary Holocaust memoirs it is refreashing to have a tale which provides fodder for readers to understand the many victims of this war.

The themes have elements that I found comparable to the themes in the wonderful book Room; isolation, survival, nature vs. nurture. As universal as themes are in literature these are two very different stories of survival with a young child and those themes resonate in both books.

Finally I am finished reading this book. I will say that the story line was very interesting which was why I decided to read this book in the first place. But it took me a long time to get through this book. The chapters were very short and the transition between times was seemless and easy to move with. There was just something about this book, that was not easy for me to stay awake while reading it. I'm not sure if it was the location or what it was exactly, but it was really boring to me. I would have given it two stars, but I liked the story line, so that made me give it three.

Silvana and Janusz are married and then he is sent away to war. Six years later and wartime and living in the forest their lives are far from the lives they knew living as a young married couple in Warsaw, Poland. They have a young son, Aurek, who lived with Silvana in the forest. When the family is finally brought back together in England. Will they be able to start their lives over in a new country with no family but themselves. Will Aurek be the son that Janusz has always wanted and will he and his wife ever be able to get through what their separation has done to their lives today.

**Not an the store Verified Purchase...borrowed from the library**

Janusz, Silvana and their son Aurek are a young Polish family just beginning their lives together when Poland is invaded by the Russians and Germans. The family gets separated. Janusz joins the Military and eventually ends up in England. Silvana and Aurek are left in Poland to fend for themselves. In order to survive, Silvana and Aurek take to the forest. For six long years, they wander from place to place just trying to survive. They hide in hollowed out trees, and are constantly filthy and are on the verge of becoming as wild as the animals they live amongst. They eventually end up in a refugee camp, where Janusz finally locates them. Janusz is living in England and brings Silvana and Aurek to England with hope of finally having the life with his family that they all deserve. Unfortunately, all three have changed very much since before the war and they all have secrets they keep from each other. These secrets threaten to tear the family apart.

It is hard to believe that this is Amanda Hodgkinson's first novel. Just when you think you have learned everything about Janusz, Silvana and Aurek, Amanda Hodgkinson totally surprises you with new information. She puts so much emotional feeling into each character that sometimes their suffering threatens to rip your heart out.

I won this book on goodreads, but I had planned to read it anyway. So, when I won this copy, I was very happy. I highly recommend this book as I have enjoyed it very much!

I was very impressed with this novel and its depiction of a Polish family trying to reestablish some sense of normalcy after WWII. Janusz is separated from his wife Silvana and their son Aurek when war erupts, and when they are reunited six long years later in England, they are barely recognizable to each other. Having spent most of the six years in hiding in the forests, Silvana is mistrustful and tentative while Aurek is practically feral. Janusz, having escaped Poland, made his way to England to fight for the Allies and fancies himself a newly minted Englishman. He establishes a lovely home for his family, but Silvana has difficulty adapting to this life. Aurek, who has known nothing but the fierce protection of his mother struggles to accept his father, whom he refers to as The Enemy. Chapters alternate between their current situation in Ipswich and their recollections of what they experienced during their separation. Silvana and Janusz both harbor secrets, and as they are revealed, the distance between them becomes even greater. It is an emotional story, but one that was conveyed with grace and style. The writing is simple but elegant and I loved the way the author chose to reveal key elements. I was absorbed by this book and was even more thrilled with its resolution. It illustrates the struggle of survival and the need to forgive and forget.

22 Britannia Road tells the story of one family torn apart by war trying to rebuild itself after the war is over. Silvana and Janusz fell in love in rural Poland before World War II. They married and had a son, but soon after the war breaks out, it tears them apart. Six years later, Silvana, Janusz and their son Aurek are reunited in England. Will they be able to heal the wounds the war has inflicted on their lives and souls, or will it be too much for them to overcome?

I thought 22 Britannia Road was an excellent novel. The story is very powerful, and explores the trauma and tragedy of the war on everyday people and then how difficult it is to leave those memories behind in the wake of the conflict. The author used an effect technique to explore both sides of her story--she alternated chapters in the novel's present (post war England) with flashback chapters to the main characters experiences during the war. This allowed the reader to understand the deeper motivation for the characters actions. I also thought the language of the novel--which was sparse but powerful, added something to the overall story telling.

Although parts of this novel are very sad, I do feel like there was an underlying message of hope. Fans of literary fiction or historical fiction set in the World War II period should check out this excellent novel.

Silvana and Janusz of Poland have been married only a short time when World War Two starts and they are separated. Janusz joins the Army and miraculously becomes the sole survivor of his outfit. He travels to France, where he has an affair with a local girl, and eventually makes his way to England. Meanwhile Silvana and her baby son Aurek, hunted by the Germans and with no place to hide, take to the forest, where for six years they exist almost like animals. Then the war ends and Janusz, who can hardly believe it, hears that his wife and son are in a displaced person's camp and arranges for them to be brought to England. He has rented a typical English house at 22 Brittania Road, in the little town of Ipswich, and desperately wants them to forget the war and start a brand new English life as a family. But the memories of what each of them has gone through, as well as the guilt and secrets they both conceal from each other, make it almost impossible for them to forget the past and forge a happy marriage. However in time, after both acknowlege their betrayals, and after much pain and suffering, they do become a family again. This is a beautifully wrought novel of what war and its horrors can do to ordinary people, and how in the end love is the final solution.

Refreshingly different, and you'll realize it right away. The story is written with such detail and passion, that it seems that the author must have lived it. The characters are likable but not always easy to understand. It was a different place and time, which takes some time to sink into. Once there, however, I felt I walked hand in hand with mother and son, feeling that I knew them. It was more difficult to feel close to the father. This is a painful story in many ways. Families trying to reunite after years of being apart in a wartorn world, must have had a terrible time - and this story will give you a searing idea of what it must have been like. It must not be much different for military families today.

The book is very well written, but one must like her technique of going back to the past and up to the present through the whole book. The past is written in past tense and the present, in present tense, and the locale is well-labeled - so, once you get used to the back and forth, you can flow with it.

This novel is not a "light read" - there is true depth which stays hauntingly with you after you put the book down. This is a brillant debut novel.

The war in Poland kept the young lovers apart for 6 yrs.
He found her after the war,with their son & they lived in England,but too much time had passed & they lived like strangers.
The book is mainly flashbacks of the yrs.they were apart & of trying to start a new life together, but there are too many secrets.
Overfall, not an exciting book,but easy to read, a lot like other books I have read that took place in the same time period.

Somebody compared this book to Suite Francaise. The only similarity I see is the picture on the cover. Irene Nemirovsky had spent her life writing and Suite Francaise, even unfinished, was a masterpiece. Unfortunately, she was deported to Auschwitz before it was completed. 22 Britannia Road is a first novel that you can tell is a first novel. It's not bad. It can make an entertaining read, and there are some good points. However, to me it just didn't ring true, especially the parts about the war in Poland and Eastern Europe. The author doesn't mention specific places, other than Warsaw, and there is no detail. These characters could be anywhere at any time. I wonder whether she ever went to Poland, because I've spent time there, traveling around the country. It's true a person can write about a country that they don't live in, and do it effectively, and even do it in a first novel, but it seemed to me she didn't do enough research. This was just scratching the surface. The character of Silvana was not at all filled out. First, that isn't a Polish name. There is no v in the Polish alphabet. Her name might have been Sylwia. This sounds Italian, or made up. She doesn't come across as a peasant, or as a Catholic, which she would have been. Her personality just seemed empty to me. Janusz's sister would have been Ewa, not Eve. Gregor is the German form of Gregory. Russian would be Grigori, Polish Grzegorz. She isn't paying attention to detail, assuming the readers won't know the difference. The switching back and forth in time and place and between characters made the story hard to follow. A chronological story may have worked better.

I think the author does have talent; one thing I liked was the reactions of the little boy, who had known only war and hiding and now found himself in a strange country and was expected to act "normal." This was one of the best parts of the book for me. It seemed very realistic, while the adults did not. She could have had a much better book if it wasn't rushed to print, and if she had thought things out more. There have been so many good books about people who survived the war in Poland and were "lucky" enough to get out and adjust to new countries. The idea is good, but she should have put more into it.

World War II might have ended, but the pain lingers on for the characters in Amanda Hodgkinson's mediocre debut. Reunited after the war separated them and now living in England, Polish couple Janusz and Silvana and their child Aurek try to put their family back together but find that, though they are physically together, they remain separated by the past, by memory, by secrets that Hodgkinson reveals over the course of the novel. The writing is vivid and nicely, if not superlatively, evokes the time and place, although some sequences of events strain credibility and characters lack somewhat in development. Books about love and loss set against the backdrop of World War II are a dime a dozen, and while 22 BRITANNIA ROAD has merits that make it an entertaining read, it does not rise above the middle of the pack.

This was a cleverly written story of a horrible period in history. I think the author did a fabulous job taking the reader through the characters' past and then bringing the reader to the present. I was very impressed with the book's flow and had no difficulty keeping the story staight and knowing exactly what time period we were in. Supporting characters are introduced in a manner that makes it quite easy to remember their relationships to the main characters. I always appreciate that. Some books just throw in names and you never can tell which ones will have an impact on the story.

The main characters (husband, wife, and son) are endearing and imperfect, as they should be considering what they've endured. I am of the opinion that the husband's war experience did not come close to comparing to the wife's.

Just a very good book and an exciting, well-paced, fairly quick read. I recommend it.

I saw the word "haunting" in another review, and have to agree that this is a very apt description for this book. Haunting but also riveting.

This is a well written story of the disruption and destruction that happens to ordinary people caught up in war - how lives are turned upside down, how difficult choices are made, how the trauma of war leaves indelible scars as common people endure the unendurable.

Yes, the story is gut-wrenchingly sad, one of the saddest I've read. Somehow, you get the feeling that things will turn out OK - so you keep reading. Much like the characters in this novel who push forward with their lives, their nightmares and their dreams.

In the end, this is a story about survival.

Highly recommended.

This remarkable book chronicles the struggle of a Polish woman to make a new life for herself and her son in England in the aftermath of World War II. But her life is crippled by questions: Can she overcome the horrors she has been through to reunite with her husband (whom it now seems she barely knows)? And what really happened during the war? Original, memorable and heartfelt.

This is a wonderful story not only of physical and emotional survival during the most harrowing of wartime experiences, but also of a marriage. Polish couple Silvana and Janusz are separated soon after their marriage by the brutal events of WWII, and hardly know each other when they are reunited in England after the war. Both of them, but especially Silvana, have undergone the most brutal hardships imaginable, and I was so invested in seeing their newly-reunited family survive that I almost flipped to the end of the book to make sure it ended happily for them. It's a very involving, moving portrait of loss and renewal, very simply written, very emotionally astute. I will look out for more books by Amanda Hodgkinson.

This book moves back and forth between the war and after the war. It goes along fairly well until the last few chapters. All of a sudden something happens that is really not explained and totally changes everything. (I don't want to explain what it is in order to keep from spoiling it for someone who is reading the book). It appeared to me that the author got tired of her subject and wanted to suddenly end the book. I was quite disappointed. I would not really recommend it except for the fact that it tells about some of the hardships during the war that make you think how lucky we are not to have been there.
This book was a gift I received, purchased from the store

Silvana and Janusz, a lackluster young married couple, are separated by the tides of war sweeping through 1937 Poland. Janusz, conscripted into the collapsing Polish army, chooses desertion over capture. Silvana, a holdout in collapsing Warsaw and saddled with their infant son, Aurec, chooses to flee the city rather than submit to the certainty of sexual bondage by a conquering German officer.

The travails Silvana and the child suffer in the forest are well-documented up to a point. The reader is allowed only a glimpse of their bare existence with a smokescreen of allusion making up for the rest. We know they are hungry, sick, and cold, but little else.

Janusz seems to fare a little better. He winds up in coastal France ahead of marauding axis armies and is eventually transported to England where he serves in the British forces. But again, the details of his odyssey are vague, as is his time spent as a British soldier.

While these omissions may accurately reflect the reluctance of the characters to dwell on their respective misfortunes, these lacks sap believability and lessen reader empathy. For subject matter alone, this story should be more than just engaging; it should be gripping. And it is not. And to say again: With the principals always kept at arm's length, it is very difficult to become fully involved with them.

Following their postwar reunion, secrets are gradually revealed: Janusz's in a predictable, pedestrian manner; Silvana's in a chilling confession of the extremes she was driven to while they were apart. Individual reactions to this confession inject much-needed drama into a storyline that has by now begun to flounder, especially in its structuring.

Although changes in narrative voice are announced at chapter and scene breaks, jumping from head to head inevitably becomes tiresome to deal with. And I never was able to get comfortable with the "back and forth" and the "then and now" juxtapositions of time and place that, while handled masterfully in the first half of the book, sank into confusion as the story wound down.

Despite these criticisms and some mixed emotions, I think 22 Britannia Road warrants four stars and a favorable recommendation because debut novelist Amanda Hodgkinson made me want to care about these people. Most of all for the child, Aurec, whose fate was determined by the cruelest of chances.

This is an excellent WWII historical novel. It is mostly set in post war England but there are 4 threads running through the book. The prewar marriage of Silvana and Janusz, the birth of their son Aurek. What happened to Janusz during the war, What happened to Silvana and Aurek during the war and how they are trying to put their lives back together.

At first I was a bit annoyed it was jumping back and forth between the 4 threads, I was wanting to know more of the one I was currently reading,.I however came to appreciate Amanda Hodgkinson's way of writing that keep you reading more and more. You get to know what the other person doesn't know, it's like you are keeping the secrets along with the characters.

As you can image after being seperated for 6 long years it was not easy to just be a happy family over night. When Poland their homeland was occupied Janusz enlisted to fight against the Germans. Silvana was no longer safe in Poland so she and Aurek fled into the forest to hide. Both husband and wife had some bad experiences and both are holding secrets that they are too ashamed to tell one another. Slowly but surely the truth does unwind in a fashion that keeps you wanting more. Poor little Aurek doesn't even remember his Daddy, he sees him as "the enemy" at first. Quite understandable.

They rebuild their lives in England and we are allowed to look behind closed doors. A great new author whom I will seek out more in the future.

War is not prone to consider the upheaval caused to families, and Sylvana and Janusz proved to be no exception. Newlyweds before being pulled in different directions, could their love withstand six years that hurled them through life-changing events? With her back to Warsaw and the excruciating war memories always a part of her, Sylvana was about to find out in a new land, clutching 7-year old Aurek's tender hand for security as she searched the crowd for Janusz. Second chances do not come often, but both determine to meld together a family. All have changed, however, and secrets, though unspoken and unknown to each other, torment and create distance. The lengths they have gone to in order to survive the past have become the very hurdles to moving on. Hodgkinson gradually and skillfully unveils their mysterious pasts, measured to keep the reader's interest, and in keeping with the realism of the story. Not a "romance novel," but definitely a romance of family and perseverance, Hodgkinson's first novel, 22 Britannia Road, has "classic" written all over it.

I received this book free from GoodReads First Reads.

In "22 Britannia Road," first-time novelist Amanda Hodgkinson tells the story of Silvana, Januzs, and their young son Aurek. Separated for six years during WW2, Silvana and Aurek have eked out a precarious existence in the forests of Poland, while Janusz chose to fight the German occupation and ended up in the British RAF. Now that the war is over, they have reunited, but war has left its own scars. Silvana and Janusz were recently married when they were separated - now, war and other happenings have changed them both, left them with scars and secrets. Aurek, who has grown up in the woods, is nearly feral and has tremendous difficulty in adjusting to a "normal" life and accepting the presence of his father.

This is a powerful work, showing, rather than telling, the destruction war leaves in its wake. The contrast between wartime suffering and adjusting to their new home and surroundings was very poignant. Some of the sections might have benefitted from tighter editing and there is an occasional slight tendency to melodrama: however, I found it to be an engrossing and absorbing read, especially for a first novel. Well done, Ms. Hodgkinson. I look forward to reading more of your work.

That is how Janusz describes his wife Silvana as he embraces her in a scene about two-thirds through this book, and it seems to be the first insightful thing he thinks about her. I chose this book from the Vine program because it sounded like a wonderful, moving premise for a novel, but I was disappointed. I expected it to be sad, but I also expected to feel for and empathize with characters who had been through so much. I found I just couldn't care about Janusz and Silvana; when they first meet as teenagers, they are just a couple of horny kids, feeling an instant physical attraction and apparently not much else. Silvana comes from a miserable, dysfunctional peasant family and seems motivated only by the desire to escape; Janusz seems to ask her to marry him out of duty, suggesting perhaps he's gotten her pregnant. Either way, I didn't feel like I knew the characters - what were their likes, dislikes, dreams, motivations? They seemed very young and unformed, understandably so, but the love they shared did not feel strong enough to last through six years of war.

I agree with another reviewer here who noted that Janusz' time spent wandering around Europe before finally getting to England seems far-fetched. Janusz seems quite amenable to staying put wherever he lands and sitting out the war - first the goose woman's cottage, then Helene's parents' farm - he seems quite weak and easily lead and just goes along. Granted, his life has been totally turned upside down, but I don't get the impression he's burning to fight for his country, or to see his wife and child again, or to do much of anything, except have an affair with Helene.

Silvana has a much rougher time (women in war often do), but she seems very shallow and unformed as well, basically a hollow shell doing whatever she's told by Hanka, then Gregor, then Janusz, then Tony . . . She and her son Aurek endure a much harsher deprivation in the forests of Poland, but something about that also didn't ring true for me. It went on way too long and became boring, and it seemed uneven - they stay for months with one farmer, then the Germans are coming and they must move on; then they wander a day and Gregor finds them and brings them into his dubious fold; next time they're abandoned they wander for days and days and see no sign of life - but then a farmer finds them near death. A while later, Gregor comes back into the picture and I thought, how come they didn't find Gregor or this farmer while they were wandering lost in apparently the same vicinity? Are these the densest, deepest, most desolate woods ever or the forest from "Midsummer Night's Dream", with characters constantly wandering on and off stage? It just seemed inconsistent. First Silvana is tough and independent, hunting and skinning animals with Gregor, and he tells her she'd be perfect for the Resistance - but when she and Aurek are alone again, they're eating whatever they find but almost starving. She forgot how to trap and hunt? Again, it seemed inconsistent.

I felt like I never got to know Janusz or Silvana, and I don't think they knew each other. They were so secretive with each other; I couldn't help thinking real lovers/partners would eventually share and talk about what they'd endured, seen, learned about themselves; not all at once, of course, but in dribs and drabs. Janusz and Silvana lived in the same house but seemed to rarely speak with or to each other; there seems to be no REAL talking until the last five pages. I frankly didn't care by that point; it just reinforced for me the feeling that here were two people who didn't have much in common to begin with - I couldn't help feeling sorry for Janusz for missing out on his chance with Helene! Finally, the plot twist at the end of the book with Tony (no spoilers, I promise), really seemed out of left field and I agree with another reviewer here, at that point the story seemed to descend into melodrama. If I didn't have to write a review of this book for the Vine program, I probably wouldn't have finished it.

I know some readers will find this a satisfying story of survival and "primal maternal love" as the back cover says, and I did find several of the scenes between Silvana and Aurek, and between Janusz and Aurek touching and almost painful; they wanted so much to be a family again. I also feel the author provided a somewhat interesting, if dreary, story of life in post-war Britain; but the love story between Silvana and Janusz just didn't work for me, or it was a case of too little, too late. I pitied the main characters but just couldn't like or care much about them, so I didn't like the book as much as I might have and rated it accordingly.

I liked this book very much. From the young couple who marry just before the war breaks out to the struggles they have to adapt to each other after six years apart. They're not the same people they were and each holds a secret the other wouldn't understand. This leads to feelings of conflict in emotions in each. Janusz and Silvana could be any of thousands who faced separation during the war. But, unlike many, they found their way back to each other and faced the differences the years had made in them. This book is well written and was easy to read and I was caught up in the story.

22 Britannia Road swept me away to WWII Poland and presented a slightly different insight into what the people endured under Nazism. A young couple, divided by the war, face different horrors. When they are reunited five years later, they face stark realization that they are different people than they had been before. Their son, raised hidden in the forest, is more like a wild animal than a boy. I kept turning the pages, wanting to find out if their marriage could survive. It is the best book I've read this summer. Thanks to the author for writing it.

*may contain spoilers*

The book cover image initially caught my attention, then upon reading the brief cover I sat down to read... This debut novel draws you in during the first chapter. The author creates a diverse and internal dynamic of characters and plot, taking the reader to both past and present. One begins to unravel the complexities of the characters, catching glimpses of their past lives and experiences that have formed them into who they were presently. Although 22 BRITANNIA ROAD is a work of fiction, the reader cannot help but be transported to history and the times of war, when folks are facing situations beyond their predictions. It is so with the characters of Silvana, Janusz, and their son Aurek. Who they were or may have grown to be was shaped by their war years. A sad yet riveting story of happiness overshadowed by war, yet the determination to live and forge ahead with life, regardless of what it may bring remains. Although the ending of the book brings us to the characters and their present lives together, after being reunited, I cannot help but marvel at the ending and how it was quite different than what I may have been expecting.

Definitely an Interesting read! :)

While reading '22 Britannia Road' I had to constantly re-read the back cover copy to confirm that this was Amanda Hodgkinson's debut novel. But it is!! This is a powerful work of fiction, of war, memory, and the destructive power of the secrets we keep. Taking place in post-World War II Britain, this story of two Polish immigrants reunited with their young son is an incredibly well crafted work that tells a fascinating story. I can't say too much more without giving away the plot, but I think the best praise I can lavish upon it was that, while reading it, I kept thinking "I can't wait until I finish this so my wife and my parents can read it." It's one you will be wowed by, and then want to share! A truly amazing read!

I was very impressed with this book. Some books take a chapter or so to really get into. I was hooked on this book from the beginning. Amanda has a fantastic talent for imagery. The scenes were very real and moving. Never going too far with the descriptions for the faint of heart, but giving enough detail to make the story complete. The story line was very realistic to me. Very insightful and moving. I'm impressed that this is Amanda's debut novel because the writing was mature and well thought out.

Sylvana and her husband Janusz tell their stories, past (World War II) and present (just after the war), in a back and forth manner that gets a bit choppy. The stories they tell are interesting, but not irresistible. You could put the book down, don't mind picking it back up again, but don't feel compelled to. The characters are not lovable and the plot is weak. Nevertheless, the setting is richly displayed, especially post war Britain.

22 Britannia Road is a fiction romance set during WWII.

Silvana Nowak is a young Polish woman living in Warsaw at the time the Germans take over the city. When her husband, Janusz is called away to fight for their country, he leaves her and their young son, Aurek, behind.

After setting out on the train with his unit, they are attacked by German planes and he becomes lost from his troops. However, after months go by, he realizes that his heart is not in this and he is befriended by two other deserters and the trio make their way across Poland to France in order to join up with troops already stationed there.

Along the way many things happen to Janusz that changes who he was and after the war is over, he settles in England to become a proper Englishman and buys a house located at 22 Britannia Road. He then sets out to find what happened to his family.

Silvana and Aurek are soon left at the mercy of the German soldiers and after being raped, she escapes with Aurek and stunned, scared and lonely, she follows the other people heading out of the city. She wanders for weeks and along the way she befriends a woman who helps them find shelter for the winter.

When Silvana and Hanka part ways, her and Aurek must learn to take shelter and survive in the woods. Finding another group of survivors they spend the winter with them before moving on to another family, who save them from near death.

Always Silvana is fighting for their survival, seeking shelter and food when there was none to be found. When the English find them, they are taken to a refugee encampment. It is there that she learns that Janusz is alive and is looking for them.

However, Silvana has mixed feelings about returning to her husband's arms. She has many secrets that she cannot share, and many situations she wishes never to have to remember again.

When the three finally come together, they must learn to live and love all over again. Will their love be enough to see them through the past; a past they had no control over? Or will their lies and secrets drive a wedge through them forever?

I thought this was a fantastic debut novel. The period that the book was set in was wonderfully written. It had clarity and mystery and immersed you into the novel, wearing the heartaches that Silvana had to endure.

The horrors of the war were graphic and the imagery given made you grip the book as you read on. Then the realization sets in that things really did happen this way; war really does this to people. It was heart-rendering to read at times as the prose left you aching at humanity's animalistic barbarity.

The characters were strongly portrayed and balanced the plot with grace and understanding. The back story characters were equally impressive in their impressions upon the reader. I did happen to guess all the secrets of the two early on in the book but I do believe the hints were subtle in their rendering and I am quite sure those who enjoy love stories will enjoy this book.

This story just made me sigh. My maternal grandmother's family were from Warsaw, and I know far too little about that place and their lives there. The author painted an image of how this family dealt with th horrors and loss of WW2 that was somehow innocent and hideous at the same time. I truly understood why both characters acted as they did, and I had no trouble sympathizing with both of them. I was thankful the author concluded the story the way she did.

I chose this book because it was an "editors pick" What a great pick too-I loved it! I don't normally like books that go from the past to the present back/forth, but this one was different. I felt that the way it was written made the book more intense with each chapter. The story builds with twists that you don't expect. I won't spoil it with more details, just be sure to read this book. I look forward to more novels by Amanda Hodgkinson.