Novel set in post WW2 Germany
- Book: Devastation Road
- Location: Czech Republic, Europe
- Author: Jason Hewitt
Devastation Road is a great if sombre read, featuring an unlikely but intriguing trio of characters. It is set in Germany in the immediate aftermath of WW2 with millions of people from all over Europe freed from the camps and trying to make their way home. It is an enormous refugee crisis, very reminiscent of what is now going on as people flee wars in Syria and Afghanistan… except that these refugees in 1945 are trying to get back to their homes, not move to a foreign country. But the images of long lines of walkers along the railway tracks are the same…
The trio are Owen, a Brit who wakes up in a field with no memory, Janek a young Czech searching for his brother, and Irena a Pole with a young child and a story. First Owen is joined by Janek, and then Irena, as they trek through Germany – Owen on his way home, the others we are not quite sure where they are going. Owen when we first meet him has no memory – this gradually returns over the course of the book, as he begins to recall details of a love affair. His lack of memory is disorientating – and very scary. They walk for weeks before ending up in an allied camp near Celle in northern Germany. Their experiences along the route are harrowing and distressing.
Devastation Road is a book about the resilience and fortitude of the human state – how people survive against all their odds.
It is book I thoroughly recommend. It will certainly make you think about what is happening today on mainland Europe.
This review first appeared on our blog where we talk to the author about the book, writing and research and the refugee crisis now and then.
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