1960s
1966
1970s
1975
A01=Martin Goodman
Alexanderplatz
Alsatian
Author_Martin Goodman
Baby Boomer
Berlin
Berlin Wall
Bildungsroman
Blind
blind character
blitz
Bombing
Boomer
Category=FBA
Category=FV
Checkpoint Charlie
Cold War
coming of age
Coventry
death of father
Deborah Rogers
Dresden
Dual-heritage
East Berlin
Elderly
Englad World Cup
England
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_historical-fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_modern-contemporary
eq_nobargain
European
European History
Friedrichstrasse
generational divide
German
German Shepherd
german soldier
head teacher
Historical
Ken Dodd
Ku'damm
legacy of war
mentor
Midlands
Nazi
Nazi medicine
new edition
Novel
old man
pantomime
philosophical
ponderous
Post Second World War
Post World War 2
Post World War II
Post WW2
Post WWII
Post-War
Post-War Europe
POW camp
powerful mother
rabbits
rerelease
Russia
S-Bahn
sauerkraut
Second World War
single mother
thoughtful
trains
U-Bahn
War Crime
war criminal
War Guilt
West Berlin
WW2
WWII
Product details
- ISBN 9781909954502
- Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 24 Mar 2022
- Publisher: Barbican Press
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Though Tomas is half-German, he is taught by English war veterans. He walks the ruins of Coventry with his English Gran, still crumbling from the blitz. Later, when Tomas nears adulthood, he goes to Germany to stay with his enigmatic uncle, Herr Poppel. The blind, elderly man was once a German soldier. Tomas has more family out in Dresden, a city still maimed by Allied firebombs. What does a young man make of all this atrocity, guilt and his own disgust at the past? What might we inherit from the wars of our elders, and how might we move on? 'The novel's blunt, no-frills economy is part of its charm. Goodman writes with flare and panache, and the narrative fizzes along. Goodman's novel soars.' - The Times 'A perceptive, moving novel. Martin Goodman takes fierce delight in cutting through the easy cliches about the "new" Europe.' - Christopher Hope 'This excellent first novel's central character is so completely realised he could have walked out of one of those enigmatic Bruce Chatwin pieces about old mysterious European types.' - Time Out 'Heralds a new dawn for British writing.' - Daily Post AUTHOR: Born in Leicester, Martin's career in writing, teaching and publishing has taken him around the globe. 'All we can do is rattle the bars and look after him as he runs into the hills. We wait for his letters home.' The Los Angeles Times. He's published eleven books, including non-fiction. He is an Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Hull. SELLING POINTS: . Critically acclaimed, Whitbread Shortlisted novel from Martin Goodman . A story about the inheritance of war guilt in a post-war Europe. Perfect for history enthusiasts fascinated by legacy, society and WW2 . It explores how the next generation reconcile the sins of the last; On Bended Knees remains relevant to the young generations of today
With this debut novel On Bended Knees, shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award, Martin Goodman started to explore a major theme of his writing: the aftermath of wars. Born in Leicester, the adults of his English childhood all carried their wartime stories, and as a teenager in the ‘70s he moved to West Berlin to look back on that wartime era through German eyes. His nonfiction picked up the theme and his biography of the scientist J.S. Haldane, who worked to counter WW1 gas attacks, Suffer & Survive, won 1st Prize, Basis of Medicine in the BMA Book Awards. In Client Earth, which won the Jury’s Choice Business Book of the Year Award 2018, and the Green Book Award from Santa Monica Libraries, he told the story of ecolawyers who battle to rescue the planet from human destruction. He is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Hull. He lives in Los Angeles and London.
