Judging by the number of comments, reviews where I get you to click somewhere else aren’t necessarily as popular as reviews here – but THIS one is hopefully different because, guys… THIS IS THE LAST BOOK ON MY 50 BOOKS YOU MUST READ BUT MAY NOT HAVE HEARD ABOUT. (That list is over in the right-hand column, fyi.)
The list has been going since I started the blog in April 2007, although it has slowed over the years as I ran out of the backlog of titles I wanted to add, and worried about the end drawing near.
Do I start another list? Don’t know. But watch this space for a little celebration of 50 Books next week.
ANYWAY The Lost Europeans by Emanuel Litvinoff is the book in question. It was published in 1958 and is about Germany after the war, and what it was like to visit as a Jewish German who was evacuated to England. But what makes it so good is Litvinoff’s extraordinary writing.
It doesn’t hurt that the book is beautifully produced too.
Head over to Shiny New Books to read all my thoughts, but here is the beginning of my review. And look out for 50 Books celebration and PRIZE next week!
Have you ever had the experience of starting a novel and, before you’ve got to the end of the second page, you are so bowled away by the writing that you already know that you’ve found one of the best books you’ll read that year? It happens to me very seldom – Patrick Hamilton’s The Slaves of Solitude did the sane thing – but it certainly happened with Emanuel Litvinoff’s 1958 novel The Lost Europeans, reprinted as part of a beautiful new series by Apollo.
I’m not surprised this made your 50, Simon – it’s absolutely wonderful and thank you for giving me that final nudge I needed to get it!
Aha – you got me at “1958” – a year I don’t yet have …
Do people pop over and comment on the linked reviews?
I have found so many wonderful books in your 50 list (and helped you find one!) so clearly this must be tried. And the fact that it focuses on a place, a time, and a topic I already find so fascinating bodes very well for it indeed.