22 Britannia Road

February 28, 2011
In her powerful debut, Hodgkinson takes on the tale of a family desperately trying to put itself back together after WWII. Silvana and Janusz have only been married a few months when the war forces them apart. Silvana and their infant son, Aurek, leave Poland and disappear into the forests of Eastern Europe, where they bear witness to German atrocities. Meanwhile Janusz, the sole survivor of his slaughtered military unit, flees to France. There, he takes up with a local girl and, though he loves her, awaits the war's end so that he can go in search of his wife and son. He eventually finds them in a refugee camp and they travel to England together, where they attempt to put the past behind them. But the secrets they carry pull at the threads of their fragile peace. Hodgkinson alternates viewpoints to relay the story of three desperate characters, skillfully toggling between the war and its aftermath with wonderfully descriptive prose that pulls the reader into a sweeping tale of survival and redemption.

Robin Sachs has a voice that seduces. He lures listeners back to the era of post-War England and deep into the lives of a Polish couple, Janusz and Silvana Nowak. The two were separated by the war, and Janusz, the only survivor of a military massacre, has taken a house at 22 Britannia Road. There he anxiously prepares for a reunion with the wife and son he hasn't seen in six years. Silvana and Aurek show the ill effects of hiding in the forest and in caves, enduring attacks and scraping out an existence. Sachs adds depth to every poignant moment, never becoming sentimental. Chapters alternate between past reflections and present confusion, and Sachs makes every discomfort, every awkward moment, every ghastly memory real. Robin Sachs gives a must-hear performance of this complex novel. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine