A Country Road, A Tree: A Novel

Jo Baker

$16.00

Publication Date: April 18th, 2017

Publisher:

Vintage

ISBN:

9781101971161

Pages:

304

Description

From the bestselling author of Longbourn comes a story of survival and determination, of spies and artists, passion and danger—a portrait of Samuel Beckett’s wartime experiences in Paris.

“Exquisitely crafted.” —O, The Oprah Magazine

In 1939 Paris, the ground rumbles with the footfall of Nazi soldiers marching along the Champs-Élysées, and a young, unknown writer, recently arrived from Ireland to make his mark, smokes one last cigarette with his lover before the city they know is torn apart. Soon he will put them both in mortal danger by joining the Resistance. Through the years that follow, we are witness to the workings of a uniquely brilliant mind struggling to create a language to express a shattered world. A Country Road, A Tree is a portrait of the extremes of human experience alchemized into one man’s timeless art.

About the Author

JO BAKER was educated at Oxford and Queen’s University, Belfast. She lives in Lancaster with her husband, the playwright Daragh Carville, and their two children. She is the author of the best-selling novel Longbourn, as well as four earlier novels, Offcomer, The Mermaid’s Child, The Telling, and The Undertow.

Praise for A Country Road, A Tree: A Novel

“Exquisitely crafted.” —O, The Oprah Magazine

“Sensitive, well written, with great compassion for [its] characters.... [A Country Road, A Tree] demonstrates, in impeccable detail, that even war can become the stuff of daily life.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Enthralling.” —Santa Fe New Mexican

“Moving, beautifully written and riveting.” —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Extraordinary.... It is a daring project, to enter the mind of a man known for his withdrawal and silences, but Baker succeeds triumphantly.” —The Guardian