A Partisan's Daughter

by Louis de Bernières

The new novel from the acclaimed author of Birds Without Wings and Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a love story at once raw and sweetly funny, wry and heartbreakingly sad.

Chris is bored, lonely, trapped in a loveless, sexless marriage. In his forties, he's a stranger to the 1970s youth culture of London, a stranger to himself on the night he invites a hooker into his car.

Roza is Yugoslavian, recently moved to London, the daughter of one of Tito's partisans. She's in her twenties, but has already lived a life filled with danger, misadventure, romance, and tragedy. And though she's not a hooker, when she's propositioned by Chris, she gets into his car anyway.

Over the next few months Roza tells Chris the stories of her past. She's a fast-talking Scheherazade, saving her own life by telling it to Chris. And he takes in her tales as if they were oxygen in an otherwise airless world. But is Roza telling the truth? Does Chris hear the stories through the filter of his own need? Does it even matter?

This deeply moving novel of their unlikely love - narrated in the moment and through recollection, each of their voices deftly realised - is also a brilliantly subtle commentary on storytelling: its seductions and powers, and its ultimately unavoidable dangers.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, British Literature, Historical Fiction, Literature, Book Club

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Louis de Bernières is an English novelist. He is known for his 1994 historical war novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin. In 1993 de Bernières was selected as one of the "20 Best of Young British Novelists", part of a promotion in Granta magazine. Captain Corelli's Mandolin was published in the following year, winning the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book. It was also shortlisted for the 1994 Sunday Express Book of the Year. It has been translated into over 11 languages and is an international best-seller.

On 16 July 2008, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in the Arts by the De Montfort University in Leicester, which he had attended when it was Leicester Polytechnic.
Politically, he identifies himself as Eurosceptic and has voiced his support for the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union.

Reviews

[Kevin Ansbro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chris, the narrator of this story, is a forty-year-old Englishman trapped in a loveless marriage to an insipid wife whose veins run on skimmed milk.
Bedevilled by frustration and desperate for some knee-trembling rumpy-pumpy, he sets out in his shit-brown Austin Allegro one night with the sole intention of paying for sex.
He invites a prostitute (Roza) into his car; only Roza isn't actually a streetwalker, she's a free-spirited Yugoslavian with a penchant for role play.
The story alternates between Chris and Roza’s narrated memoirs, but in the process failed to hold me in any kind of thrall. Nothing astonishing happens; it just uneventfully kerb crawls along.

I'm a huge fan of Mr L-to-the-d-to-the-B, but this was him tapping out a story whilst simultaneously saving his concentration for something more important to him than writing a book.
Fans of the maestro's work, expecting him to rescale the dizzy heights of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin are advised to look elsewhere.

[Malacorda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Che brutto libro, e che fatica finirlo. Un vero strazio.
Ma è veramente lo stesso De Bernières che ha scritto Il mandolino e L'impossibile volo? Speravo che ce ne fosse in giro un altro con lo stesso nome e che per un malaugurato caso mi fosse capitato in mano un libro del "sosia"… ma la triste verità è che è sempre lui: lui che cerca di imitare il sé stesso degli altri due splendidi libri. E non ci riesce, neanche lontanamente.

Fastidiosamente didascalico. E per "didascalico" non intendo solo che sembra voler fare la lezioncina sulla storia della Jugoslavia più qualche pillolina di anni '80 in Inghilterra, e che la finzione narrativa in cui si svolgono queste lezioncine è del tutto traballante (dicasi anche: trama trascurata, pressoché assente e personaggi trascuratamente piatti e un po' sciocchi); intendo didascalico anche in senso più letterale, perché sembra proprio tutto scritto per brevissime didascalie, frasette appiccicate insieme.

Particolarmente irritante è la protagonista Roza: mi ha ricordato da subito la Elizaveta di Questa storia di Baricco (e già qui partiva male perché quel Baricco non è che mi fosse piaciuto granché), e un po' anche la Agota di Covacich in A perdifiato (questo già mi era piaciuto di più): le tre donne hanno in comune, oltre alla provenienza est-europea, un carattere volitivo e una figura complessiva che si posiziona al di fuori da qualsiasi stereotipo o cliché. Quest'ultimo tratto dovrebbe essere un elemento positivo; ma se un personaggio è talmente concentrato su sé stesso per voler apparire ad ogni costo fuori dalle righe, anche a costo di essere irrazionale, così irrazionalmente intento a rendersi odioso che attraverso il personaggio si riesce a intravedere l'immagine dell'autore concentrato nel suo sforzo, come dietro un vetro non adeguatamente oscurato, beh, forse allora sarebbe stato meglio rientrare un po' più nei ranghi, lasciare al lettore un maggior piacere della lettura e non distrarlo con quell'immagine dell'autore impegnato ad andare a parare da una qualche parte ma non si sa bene dove. A meno che uno non stia giocando a fare il remake dei Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore, ma non credo proprio fosse questo il caso.

La descrizione più azzeccata di questa Roza la fa lo stesso co-protagonista Chris: "Detestavo quando Roza parlava a quel modo. Era sguaiata e volgare, e secondo me non rifletteva la sua vera natura. Lo faceva solo per posa, con una sorta di spontaneità artificiosa, e mi guardava sempre dritto negli occhi perché voleva mettermi alla prova." Ma allora com'è che l'autore si è "dimenticato" di spiegare - o quantomeno di suggerire – qual è la vera natura di questa Roza? Ma si può, nel ventunesimo secolo, lasciare un romanzo monco in siffatta maniera?

Questo Chris continua a sopportare Roza fino a pagina centottantaepassa, per quanto artificiosa e sguaiata e volgare, semplicemente perché vorrebbe portarsela a letto. E vabbé, fin qui tutto normale, ci può stare. Ma affinché io, lettrice, possa trovare la voglia e l'interesse a tirarci in fondo, l'autore potrebbe almeno fornirmi un segnale, un indizio di quando terminerà quella artificiosità, o almeno di quale possa essere il suo significato. Niente di tutto ciò. L'ho letto fino in fondo sperando, se non in una splendida scoperta come mi era accaduto con Alle Case Venie della Petri, letto da poco (anche lì avevo avuto la tentazione dell'abbandono, e poi invece sono stata ampiamente ricompensata per la mia perseveranza), almeno in un piccolo guizzo finale come era accaduto con La forma dell'acqua un annetto fa, un qualcosina che gli facesse recuperare un piccolo punticino. Ma ancora, niente di tutto ciò. Non vale neanche la pena scrivere altro, passo oltre e ben di corsa. Delusione clamorosa.

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novella about an unusual love affair between a lonely Brit and an illegal immigrant from Yugoslavia. When? At the end of the 70s. The central theme is the complicated love affair, but also the plight of illegal immigrants and the lies we tell each other. The stories we fabricate. I never knew for certain exactly what was told to attract and what was truth.

What makes this book are the lines. Relationships are captured through the words of the two, each telling their own version of the story. There is humor. There are lines of adolescents perfectly portraying pubescent behavior. Even if the story is told more than shown, I just didn't care. Authors can break most any rule if they do it right.

The narration of the audiobook is done by two, Jeff Rawie for the man and Siân Thomas for the girl. Both were very good. I felt they were the characters speaking.

The lines and the unusual story are the charm of the book. A woman needing to talk and to be heard. And the man? Sexually aroused but also seeking contact. What happens at the end? You will have to read to find out, but I thought the ending was good. Little things happen in life, but these little things may have huge consequences.

[Connie G · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A Partisan's Daughter" is the unusual story of a modern Scheherazade. Chris is a lonely salesman in a loveless marriage in 1970s London. He impulsively stops by a woman dressed like a streetwalker. She told him that she wasn't a prostitute, but he could give her a ride home to make up for his mistake. She felt that he was a nice guy and asked him to drop by for coffee sometime.

Roza, the Yugoslavian daughter of one of Tito's partisans, was in England illegally and living in a seedy communal house. She tells Chris about her life every time he stops by for coffee. Her tales are full of danger and adventure, and are often very erotic. Roza was the only thing that made Chris really feel alive before he went back to his dull, normal existence each day. It's questionable if she's a reliable narrator--or even if Chris is totally truthful. Years later he looks back on his experience with Roza as his "one great last chance".

The story shows the power of storytelling as emotional reactions are stirred up between the teller and the listener. When someone is enthralled with the stories, they keep coming back. Were Roza and Chris each just providing what the other one needed, or was there truly love? It's a strange, but thought-provoking book. 3.5 stars.

[Alex R · Rating 5 out of 5]

To tell the truth, the only reason I bought this book in the first place was because I had a coupon that I was itching to spend, and this was the first book I could find that looked remotely interesting. Afterwards, it sat in my room, gathering dust, until I decided to organize my book collection in my closet into read and to-read. I made a promise to myself that before I buy another book, I must get through all my to-reads and not be wasteful. This was the first book I chose from my "to-read" section.
As soon as I started reading it, I just could not stop. Though it did not really have a "life-changing/larger-than-life" plot like most other books had, I loved its simplicity. The story is told from two perspectives, switching sometimes every other chapter. The first character is Chris, who is an aging man who is caught inbetween feeling old and young, which really just leaves him left out. His wife, whom his calls The White Loaf, shows him no affection or even attention to him anymore, and really on spends his money. On a whim one day, he decides to pick up a prostitute, something he has never even tried before. Introduce the second character, Roza. Feeling like her life is getting dull again, she decides to stand out on a street corner and pretend she is a prostitute and fool men. After Chris suffers from the embarassment of trying to pick her up, she proceeds to get in his car and asks him to drive her home. After he drops her off, she offers him to come over some time for coffee. Soon after this proposition, Chris comes over to her dingy apartment frequently to tell her over-the-top stories about her life. They become attached to each other, though maybe not for the same reasons.
What I really loved about this story was that I was just two ordinary people, and not your average love story. They weren't portrayed as beautiful people falling in love with each other. They were your everyday people; aging, chubby, filled with smoke and disdain. I also loved hearing each and every one of Roza's tales, whether they be real or not. She kept Chris, and the reader, wanting to come back and hear more.
I would recommend this book to anyone who isn't looking for a fairy tale or some mysterious adventure, but just your average, realistic yet unconventional love story.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nobody does love and loss like De Bernieres. This is Scheherezade retold but in it, everyone is trying to save themselves in different ways. It's also about the power of storytelling itself.
It starts a bit slowly and initially the characters are not entirely sympathetic, but as the veils come off you are helplessly drawn in.
I don't generally read everything any one author writes but for me, DeBernieres is an exception.

[Marie (UK) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read many books by Louis de Bernieres and his skill in writing cannot be denied. However, for me, this one really fails to hit the mark. It is difficult to define - a romance or maybe an infatuation between Chris and Roza - who may be Roza but may also be any one of a few handfuls of aliases. The book unfolds as Roza's memoirs almost, inflated to be greater than perhaps they were. I had no feeling for either of the main characters and the storyline was thin and went nowhere.

[John Aubrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Louis de Bernieres, in his novel A Partisan's Daughter, answers a common question. Why do men lay down five dollars cover to enter a dim lit strip club to watch women they probably couldn't take home to mom, take off their bikini tops and gyrate out of arm's reach for ten to fifteen minutes? Then pay another twenty to forty dollars for these women to take them into a even darker alcove, sit them on cheap sofas and grind on their fully clothed laps for three to five minutes with no attention whatsoever of taking the action further? At least not without more cash. A night at a regular bar would be more fruitful at half the price.

The answer as Bernieres explains through the book's twenty seven chapters, is a need for companionship. Sometimes a man needs to come from work with the anticipation that an attractive woman is waiting for him, that she has taken the time to doll herself up for his benefit and can make him feel funnier, smarter, more manly than he is. Even if she has to lie to him to do it. He doesn't mind, all that's important is escaping the strangling weight of being ordinary. De Bernieres' Roza does that for Christian, a middle aged medical salesman whose wife has become a great white loaf sapped of any energy for being the least bit affectionate. Raising children, building a home can do that to a person. But we never learn enough about the Great Loaf to judge whether she is simply tired or simply tired of Chris. We never learn if he was a helpful husband, or what he has done to try to put some romance back into his marriage. Since the book is told from his and Roza's point of view, we must just accept that the White Loaf came to her current state for no other reason than she could have been either Chris's worst enemy or indifferent roommate and she chose the latter.

As the story opens Chris is thinking about getting a prostitute. Instead he meets Roza, an illegal Eastern block alien who came to England to escape a failed love. Or so she claims. Roza stands on the corner looking every bit like a working girl. She even tells Chris that she was a hooker but not anymore. Chris takes her to her rundown home and the two strike up a odd relationship of him listening to her tell her life's story. He wants to have sex with her, but admits what he needs more is her warmth and friendship. He's alright with Roza teasing him with the promise of sex so long as she never leaves him.

Neither we nor Chris can believe half of what Roza says. In listening to her it becomes obvious that she is lonely as well, and needs Christ as much as he does her.

As a story there is not much here. The ending seems rushed. However, the book's overall writing is superior. As a character study the book works very well. This is not a structured narrative with beginning, middle and end. Rather, it is a ramble.

It's what men and women do in strip clubs when the money's gone and there's a break in the flow of new customers. The broke guys and made up women sit and talk to each other about everything and nothing.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Partisan's Daughter is the latest novel by Louis de Bernieres, the first since Birds Without Wings. It is a very small novel, almost a novella. Set in the late 70s and early 80s, it is the story of a young Serbian woman, Roza, who is living illegally in Britain and Chris, a middle-aged traveling salesman who has become besotted with her. He visits her whenever he can (he's unhappily married) and they drink tea while she tells him stories of her life.

He is a milquetoast, kindly but dull, afraid of adventure and hardship, without passion, and completely unsure of himself. He thinks he is in love with Roza, but makes no move towards her, other than to visit and to listen to her stories. She is intelligent, top of her class, but left University after one year because she was dumped by her boyfriend. She ran away to England hoping for a different life.

This is a very low-key novel. It leaves you with a sense of sadness and loss, but doesn't strike very deeply. The constant motif in the story is that small mistakes in judgment, or sometimes just plain chance and misfortune, lead to terrible consequences.

It is brilliantly written, and well worth reading.

[Jayne Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn’t so much a story as the recalling of someone telling a story – all very arm’s length. For this reason I found it hard to get into, and I was constantly reminded that as much as anything else it was a way of proving that Louis de Bernieres’ encyclopaedic knowledge of international history and culture now extends to the Balkans.

Once I reached the middle third things speeded up, and I found it more enjoyable. Books by this author are always full of intelligence with frequent humorous sideswipes (I particularly liked the Yugoslavian horse named “Russia” ‘because it was very big, a complete liability and always going where it wasn’t wanted’). He is also bold in his choice of subject matters and the plot of this visits some very dark places.

Not my favourite by him, but still good and relatively accessible compared to his other work.

[Mazy Bracha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm so fond of right words. Good things I feel on the outside make me more pleasant inside, and it radiates everything I do. Therefore, when I encounter a good book, I read it several times, so that it will stick to me.
And when that doesn't happen? So I stay only myself, the usual, and the words I say and write even if they sound good, actually have no real intention.

Such is my recommendation today.

The three previous books by Louis de Bernier, "Captain Corelli's Mandolin," "Birds Without Wings," "Don Emmanuel's Lower Territories War," take up a place of honor in my library, and so I quickly snatched up this book by de Bernier.

so here are my kind words about this book: It is recommended to read his previous books with great pleasure.

[Richard Newton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is good in parts. It is at times a very moving story - especially the final ending. Unfortunately, much was simply unconvincing for example the scene at the beginning when the protagonists first meet. Not bad, but not his best either. However, full credit for trying something very different from his other books.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

dog walking audio defining The Great White Loaf. This story of a story teller was wonderful, shocking, funny and ultimately sad. It doesn't really fit onto any of my designated genre shelves; the best I can use is 'contemporary fiction'.

[Jean-marcel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sad, sad little story. After I read this I wrote my longtime ex a heartfelt, regretful letter. It helped, a bit.

[Paul Curd · Rating 4 out of 5]

In A Partisan’s Daughter we are presented with two narrators. The first, Christian (Chris for short), seems to be writing now (i.e. in the early 21st century) about his relationship at the end of the Winter of Discontent (i.e. 1978-79) with the eponymous partisan’s daughter, Roza. ‘’I am not the sort of man who goes to prostitutes’’ he begins, and then admits that people would disbelieve it.

Chris describes the loneliness of his life at the time, married to the ‘Great White Loaf’, an insipid Englishwoman with skimmed milk in her veins. This is his excuse for stopping his car one day to pick up a prostitute standing on a street corner in Archway. There is a misunderstanding: Chris asks her if she has the time and she replies, in ‘quite a strong accent’ that her watch has stopped and Chris realises he has made ‘a horrible mistake’. Roza asks him to give her a lift home, and on the way she tells him that once she used to be a bad girl, and her going rate was £500. She invites him to call back one day for a coffee.

And so begins the odd-couple relationship between a forty-something travelling salesman and a twenty-something ‘fast-talking Scheherazade’. Chris spends illicit afternoons sitting beside Roza’s gas fire, listening to her stories. Roza tells Chris she is Yugoslavian, the daughter of one of Tito’s partisan. She lives in a run-down Co-operative Housing house that she shares with a Jewish actor, a sculptress and a boy who lives upstairs and really wants to be Bob Dylan. Until Chris comes along, the only person Roza talks to is the Bob Dylan upstairs, and she admits, ‘I told him all my stories so many times and from so many angles that I lost track of everything I’d said.’

This beautifully written book works on several levels, and it had me entranced from the first page. The sense of time and of place are perfectly pitched (I lived in several houses like Roza’s in the early seventies and they were exactly as the author describes this one). The characters are sympathetically drawn and complex enough to be real. The strange love that develops between Chris and Roza is equally well realised, and that makes the whole story moving. But the book is also about the nature of storytelling, and about the way people invent and reinvent themselves through their own narratives. We only ever see Chris’s loveless marriage from his perspective (who knows how the Great White Loaf would describe him?). We only ever get to know Roza through the stories she tells, and we are never sure how much of what she says is true. (If she is really a Yugoslavian partisan’s daughter, why has she gone to the library ‘to read up about Yugoslavia’?)

Because de Bernieres switches point of view back and forth between the two main characters we can see how the relationship develops from both perspectives. Chris believes he has fallen in love with Roza, and yet he continues to save up the £500 he thinks it will take to sleep with her. Meanwhile, Roza uses her stories to keep him coming back. But why? At first it may be because she is lonely, and she admits it is fun tormenting him, too. But gradually, subtly, Roza’s feelings for Chris develop.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is quite short but it is certainly not slight. It may not be quite in the same league as ‘’Captain Corelli’’ but, in its own way, it is just as good. Recommended.

[Laura]

Every great novel must have a great first sentence: "I am not the sort of man who goes to prostitutes," really catches the eye.

I finished this book last night. I read from 8-11:30 and finished the last half (it's a quick read). There is a surprise that is supposed to happen at the end, but it just never happens. Perhaps it means that the story is in the journey and not in the ending, but it was a bit annoying.

This book is like Birds without wings in that it is the story of yugoslavia through the eyes of a partisan's daughter talking to a lonely british man in London. It's a love story, sort of. It's a tragedy, sort of. I didn't find the writing nearly as good as birds without wings, nor the historical information. This book is more of a temptress, tempting you to be interested to look up more about the history of Yugoslavia on your own by dropping hints of how interesting it is. It even does so much as to take the main characters to the library to motivate you by example.

Some quotes I enjoyed in the book:

"That's the odd thing about affection, though. If you have a large amount of it to bestow, and if the right person isn't there to receive it, you bestow it on someone else until a better candidate comes along."

"I felt very safe with her, and I began to experience her fear of passing time, because when a friendship is so sweet, and close, it always opens up the possibility that it will not last forever."

There is also a wonderful stint about a conversation between a young woman and an old man. They both envy each other's age and life. He tells her of his experiences and how he is touring the places in which horrible things took place or horrible people are laid to rest so he can spit on their graves.

Overall, a worthy read, but Birds Without Wings is still his masterpiece. I wish I had all the quotes from that book that I love written down.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Years ago, I read and fell in love with Corelli's Mandolin. So, I was interested to pick up de Bernieres's most recent novel, which has received a great deal of praise. A Partisan's Daughter takes place in London and is a sexually obsessed love story told from the alternating first-person perspectives of Chris, an unhappily married man, and Roza, a Yugoslavian immigrant who Chris initially mistakes for a prostitute. As the two spend increasing amounts of time together, Chris fancies their relationship as a budding romance. Roza's motives are a little more difficult to discern. She strings him along telling him stories from her past, fearing that he will lose interest if her stories are not shocking enough. Yet, Roza does not seem particularly to like Chris, rather viewing him as a toy to manipuate and deceive. While neither of the characters in this novel are likeable, the writing maintained my interest and I was eager to find out what, if anything, would come of the relationship. Plot-wise, this is a much less sophisticated endeavor than Corelli's Mandolin, but it was an interesting exploration of two people from different backgrounds dealing with the loneliness and uncertainty of life.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scheherazade redivivus! We exist in the minds of others and in our own minds in the tales we tell about ourselves. Our autobiographies are always (intentionally and unintentionally) works of creative nonfiction and sometimes are entirely invented to enhance our self-esteem, to entertain our friends, or to intrigue lovers and potential lovers. This is a book about such tales, about those who need to tell them and those who need to believe what is told. It is both the narrative of an elaborate courtship ritual and an examination of those crucial words which are so often and so tragically left unsaid. John Donne tells us "No man is an island, entire of itself . . ." What he does not tell us is that every man is at best a peninsula and that our stories form the isthmi by which we seek connection with others. Sometimes the stories are not enough, and sometimes they are too much, but as long as the stories are told and heard, Scherherazade lives for another night and Shahryar dreams of what is yet to come. If we are birds without wings, at least we can sing to each other. In A Partisan's Daughter, the author has sung well once again.

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

As the star rating indicates, this book was okay. It was interesting. It definitely falls into the category of "literary fiction," as if it were more important, or better than, say, chick lit or YA or fantasy. Sometimes, these books are better than your average bear of a chick lit novel. This one wasn't. Like I said, it was okay. I probably wouldn't have picked it up on my own, but my wonderful friend Aimee sent it to me for my bday. And it was interesting enough. I finished it in a few days. I did want to know what happened to Chris and Roza, the protagonists. And ultimately, their story ended not with a bang (double entendre intended, since Chris spends a lot of time fantasizing about sleeping with Roza) but a whimper, much like real life relationships. And I've learned that, ultimately, I don't want to read novels about real life. I want a little spice, a little fantasy -- and not just fairies and elves -- grand romances, daring courage, etc, which most ordinary lives do not have. I'm living an ordinary life. Not so sure I want to read about it.

[Stefania Gartz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Αυτός είναι ο Κρις: σαραντάρης, μοναχικός, παγιδευμένος σε ένα γάμο δίχως έρωτα, ξένος μέσα στη λονδρέζικη νεανική κουλτούρα της δεκαετίας του '70, ξένος απέναντι στον ίδιο τον εαυτό του τη νύχτα που προσκαλεί μια πόρνη στο αυτοκίνητό του. Αυτή είναι η Ρόζα: Γιουγκοσλάβα, πανέμορφη, άρτι αφιχθείσα στο Λονδίνο, κόρη ενός από τους παρτιζάνους του Τίτο, με μια ζωή γεμάτη κινδύνους και τραγωδίες. Δίχως να το πολυσκεφτεί, δέχεται την πρόταση του Κρις και μπαίνει στο αυτοκίνητό του. Για τους επόμενους μήνες, η Ρόζα θα αφηγείται στον Κρις ιστορίες από το παρελθόν της. Άραγε, του λέει αλήθειες ή ψέματα; Και γιατί εκείνος κάθεται και την ακούει, λιώνοντας από πόθο και ζήλια, αλλά δεν κάνει καμία κίνηση να την κερδίσει; Το παραμύθι, η Ιστορία, η πραγματικότητα απογυμνώνουν τις ψυχές, κι ο έρωτας, βαθύς σαν υπόγειος καταστροφικός σεισμός, τινάζει αυτούς τους δύο ανθρώπους στον αέρα. Τίποτα δε θα είναι ίδιο αν χωρίσουν. Γιατί και οι δύο θα αφήσουν τη μία και μοναδική ευκαιρία να αγαπηθούν...

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in England in the 1970's with alternating chapters and viewpoints we are drawn into the life of middle-aged Chris - bored, lonely and never eager to go home to the "Great White Loaf" and Roza a young Yugoslav immigrant whose father was one of Tito's partisans. Roza is a masterful storyteller who has seized more than her share of moments in life and struggles with love. Sometimes told in the present sometimes in recollection with historical and political touch points a celebration of ordinary people and the sadness that comes from one wrong choice. I loved this book, read it in one sitting and will be checking out his other books soon!

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most recent novel from the author of Corelli's Mandolin can only be described as a love story, but it's a strange, thoughtful, frequently creepy affair. Set in bleak 70's Britain, it's about a sad-sack salesman in a loveless marriage who goes out looking for a prostitute, and finds the title character instead, a mysterious younger woman from Yugoslavia who gets him tangled up in a web of her stories, some obviously false, others possibly true. Along with a satisfying (albeit sad) human story, it offers an interesting take on the fabrication of identity and the seductive powers of storytelling.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

The variety of styles and historical contexts in de Bernieres' work is quite astonishing. This (by his standards) rather slight novel is based in London, although with strong links to the Balkans and to the wars and regions which have been one area of the author's interests. An enjoyable exploration of the nature of love, with some exploration too of the life of an illegal immigrant. A pleasant, if not memorable read: not one of his best novels like the almost equally recent Birds without Wings.

[Bosibori · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You shouldn't think people love you. You should wait for it to be said because if you push it, it rolls over the edge and it gets broken." (Paraphrased).

Roza appears to be too trusting and she is the kind that when people treat her in a certain way and do certain things for/to her, she concludes that they love her. This leads to her being disappointed in many ways which in turn also leads to her running away...all the time.

"You can go as far as you like, but a broken heart travels with you." her father told her and he was right.

[Bookish Enchantment (Katherine Quirke) · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a number of 1 and 2 star reviews for this book that I feel are rather harsh. I found the book to be captivating, a little sad and interesting. Interesting from the fact that we all deal with our life situations differently.

In this case we have 2 people escaping their lives for just a few hours at a time quite innocently. The story is quite cynical yet not depressing. Somehow de Bernieres manages to keep the story light.

[Dymbula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skvělé čtení o životě partyzánovy dcery očima partyzánovy dcery. A navíc pětihvězdičkový překlad Viktora Janiše.

[David]

A fascinating story about the power of story -- to invent, re-invent, entertain, amuse, arouse ... and totally mislead. A great example for those readers who are driven to ask "But what really happened?" A Partisan's Daughter will not answer that question, but it will provoke a great deal of thought on the subject.

[Berna · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5 stars rounded up to 3.
It was an OK book with very unlikeable characters but I liked the structure of the story.

[Melissa B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This girl and her dad is just 😟😳 yk

[kavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn’t realize I would be absolutely DESTROYED by this book when I picked it up two days ago but here we are