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The Distance from NormandyOne parachuted into Normandy with the 101st on D-Day, fought his way to Germany and now wages a private war against both loneliness and the memory of a day in 1945 that went terribly wrong. The other is a scared and angry high school sophomore whose best friend has committed suicide. Two generations and entire worlds apart, Mead and his grandson Andrew would seem to share little but their brooding temperaments and deep mutual mistrust. Yet as The Distance from Normandy opens, they find themselves thrown together after Andrew is expelled from school for pulling a knife on the bully who has tormented him. With his own daughter floundering, Mead reluctantly agrees to take the boy for three weeks, determined to knock some sense into him. Instead, his grandson soon forces Mead to confront some crippling fears of his own as the unlikely housemates find themselves gradually drawn together by the very ghosts that threaten to destroy them.At first Mead and Andrew circle warily, making little headway until Andrew befriends a cheerful neighbor named Evelyn, who stubbornly refuses to let Mead surrender to the sorrow that has consumed him since the death of his wife. Before long Mead is busy trying to fend off his grandson's clumsy attempts at matchmaking, all the while unaware that the boy is carrying the stolen ashes of his dead buddy. Meanwhile, Evelyn continues to charm both Mead and Andrew with her irrepressible warmth and humor, even as she secretly fights her own desperate battle. Then one afternoon while rummaging through his grandfather's garage, Andrew makes a deadly discovery. In a final effort to save his grandson from himself, Mead takes Andrew on a journey to Europe, where amid the beaches, bunkers and cemeteries of Normandy, the aging veteran is forced to confront a wartime secret he has spent a lifetime trying to forget. Gradually, as the past rejoins the present, both grandfather and grandson must undergo yet another test of courage, only this time together. Reviews: . . . A fast-moving, likable tale . . . secrets are revealed and truths both harsh and pleasant learned. Everyone, the reader included, is left with a newfound sense of hope and understanding. Publishers Weekly LOSING JULIA is one of my all-time favorite books . . . I am happy to say that this new book is just as brilliant. Carol Fitzgerald, founder and president Bookreporter.com Skillful storytelling . . . Hull once again has done his homework . . . "The Distance from Normandy" is one of those novels that slowly builds its tension, that takes its own sweet time in revealing its secrets. It's to Hull's enormous credit that he keeps you wrapped up in the lives of the three major characters and then, once you are finished with the novel, makes you ponder what you've just read. Denver Post Hull's characters yield genuine insight into the lives of both the young and old. Booklist Vivid . . . "The Distance From Normandy " is about the proximity and the distance--each terrible in its way--that bind each of us to the losses, griefs and shameful episodes of our lives, our own private Normandy . . . Hull's skill and tact ensure that sentimental solutions are avoided, and "The Distance from Normandy" maintains our curiosity until the end. Best of all, Hull concocts some traumatic battlefield incidents that carry conviction without echoing earlier war stories. Breaking fresh ground is no mean achievement in such a well-trodden arena. Chicago Tribune A Book Sense 76 selection. Read an excerpt Reading Group Guide |
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Losing JuliaAn epic tale of love found and lost, Losing Julia tells the story of Patrick Delaney, an aging American veteran of the Great War still haunted by the battlefield death of his best friend Daniel and by the bittersweet memory of Julia, the woman they both loved.The book opens at the dedication of a war memorial in France in 1928, where Patrick meets Julia, who has come to visit the site where her lover Daniel was killed ten years earlier during the final months of the war. Though married, Patrick falls desperately in love as he and Julia spend a week together exploring the still battle-scarred countryside and struggling to make sense of the horror that destroyed a generation. Those unforgettable days form the heart of an intricate exploration of love and loss that moves from the senseless savagery of trench warfare to the sometimes comic and often tragic indignities of old age. As the elderly Patrick tries to take the final measure of his life, an unexpected package leads him on one last journey to France, where he finds the answers that have always eluded him. Reviews: Superb. . . an elegant and touching meditation on love, particularly lost love, and the ravages of war. The Denver Post Elegant. . . Hull's research is assiduous; he seamlessly incorporates period detail. . . Publishers Weekly [Hull's] grasp of history and sense of story combine to evoke with remarkable freshness both the gory excesses of World War I and the exquisite melancholy of love known and lost and idealized ever after . . . each one of the three settings of Patrick's story - war in the trenches, France in the company of Julia, the gallows comedy of a nursing home - is as vivid and true as the next. Separately and seamlessly, they capture the span of a long life worthy of a line from Wordsworth: " A deep distress hath humanized my soul. " The Washington Post Haunting. . . [with] immense depth and poignancy . . . not easily put down and even less easily forgotten. Denver Rocky Mountain News War buffs and saps for perfect love will read this book with equal pleasure . . . Hull evokes the era as movingly as Sebastian Faulks in BIRDSONG or Patricia Barker in the "Regeneration" trilogy. Chicago Tribune I love this book. There, I said it. If it were possible, I would leave the review at just that. It's been a long time since I've spoken so passionately about a book that at least five people bought it after a lunch or meeting with me. Or that I've talked about a novel's characters as if they were old friends. Or that I've dog-eared so many pages I have some folded both ways because there were lines on both sides that I wanted to remember. I own the paperback; I want the hardcover. If you are a friend of mine and have a birthday or special event anytime soon, you can guess your gift . . . Finishing a book I love this much is doubly painful. Not only do I miss being under its spell, everything else I read pales by comparison. But a book like this also keeps me searching, because I hope I can find something this good to share with other readers. But first....I urge you to read LOSING JULIA. Carol Fitzgerald, founder and president Bookreporter.com An evocative, bittersweet novel . . . Hull powerfully recreates the horrors and the heroism of war . . . This is a novel about a love affair that artfully blends military realism, sardonic humor and romantic sensitivity. Parade Magazine Losing Julia is a triumph. A wonderful novel. Beautifully paced and perfectly crafted. I wouldn't want to see a semicolon changed. January Magazine Read an excerpt |
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© 2008 Jonathan Hull. All Rights Reserved.
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