La tierra de nuestros padres

by William Nicholson

Rare book

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, World War II, War, Romance, Drama, Historical

640 pages, Paperback

First published December 20, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

William Nicholson was born in 1948, and grew up in Sussex and Gloucestershire. His plays for television include Shadowlands and Life Story , both of which won the BAFTA Best Television Drama award in their year; other award-winners were Sweet As You Are and The March . In 1988 he received the Royal Television Society's Writer's Award. His first play, an adaptation of Shadowlands for the stage, was Evening Standard Best Play of 1990, and went on to a Tony Award winning run on Broadway. He was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay of the film version, which was directed by Richard Attenborough and starred Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.

Since then he has written more films - Sarafina, Nell, First Knight, Grey Owl , and Gladiator (as co-writer), for which he received a second Oscar nomination. He has written and directed his own film, Firelight ; and three further stage plays, Map of the Heart , Katherine Howard and The Retreat from Moscow , which ran for five months on Broadway and received three Tony Award nominations.

His novel for older children, The Wind Singer, won the Smarties Prize Gold Award on publication in 2000, and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award in 2001. Its sequel, Slaves of the Mastery , was published in May 2001, and the final volume in the trilogy, Firesong , in May 2002. The trilogy has been sold in every major foreign market, from the US to China.

He is now at work on a new sequence of novels for older children, called The Noble Warriors . The first book, Seeker , was published in the UK in September 2005.The second book, Jango, in 2006 and the third book NOMAN, will be published in September 2007.

His novels for adults are The Society of Others (April 2004) and The Trial of True Love (April 2005).

He lives in Sussex with his wife Virginia and their three children.

from williamnicholson.co.uk

Reviews

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won't go into detail about the actual storyline, the synopsis speaks for itself, and I think it's already well reviewed here on Goodreads, but I would like to add my praise all the same. When I received my copy of the book, I thought it would take an age to read (the size of it seemed quite daunting), however, I quickly became absorbed in it, really got to know the characters, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I can really see this transferring to the big screen, and I would be the first in line (popcorn in hand). Definitely worth reading and highly recommended.

[Katelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be uneven. I wanted to put it down a few times, and only persevered because I was reading it for a book club. Some parts were interesting, such as the invasion of Dieppe, which was heartbreaking and uniquely portrayed. At times I was interested in the characters and their lives, but when the plot wasn't interesting I would again notice how like a screenplay the writing is, and then the story would ring hollow. The WWII setting was interesting.

Some fans of historic fiction may enjoy this story.

[Jane Gregg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 3 in the All the Hopeful Lovers quartet. This one steps back into prequel territory and is none the worse for so doing. Another great read from William Nicholson. The man can write.

[Rima · Rating 1 out of 5]

Šią ir kitas mano apžvalgas galima rasti štai čia: http://knygoholike.blogspot.lt/2016/0...

Jau tokio padriko romano, kaip William Nicholson "Gimtinė", seniai nebuvau skaičiusi. Rašytojas - ne naujokas, šis romanas jam jau šeštas, tai žinomas britų rašytojas ir scenaristas, sukūręs "Gladiatorių" ir kt. Bet "Gimtinę" rašo kaip koks pradedantysis: bando apie viską, bet niekas nesigauna. Bet jei jums patinka klasikinis britų romanas, koks nors W. Somersetas Maughamas arba Mary Wesley, daugybė personažų, lakoniški, bet nesibaigiantys dialogai, taip būdingi britiškam romanui, net nebeskaitykit apžvalgos toliau, imkit knygą, skaitykit ir mėgaukitės, jei pavyksta.

O aš ir šiaip nesu didelė britiškų romanų mylėtoja, o čia dar tas bandymas visą pasaulį aprašyti... Antrasis pasaulinis karas, pokaris, Indija, Jamaika, tikėjimas Dievu, bananų ir vyno importas, potrauminio šoko sindromas, britų aukštuomenė, menininkai, meilė, meilės trikampis, šeima, tapatybės paieškos... Ir garantuoju, kad tikrai dar ką nors pamiršau įrašyti.

Čia tokios aistros verda: visi tik myli, tyli ir nekenčia... Pamirškit prancūzus, britai yra tikrieji santykių ir meilės ekspertai.

Ir viskas taip emocionalu: jei meilė - tai tokia, kad net skauda, jei tikėjimas - tai iki pat sielos gelmių. Gal tas labiausiai ir atstūmė - tie utriruoti epitetai.

Nors ne - labiausiai atstūmė seksistinis rašytojo požiūris. (Kažin ar nebuvo W. Nicholsonas įsivėlęs į kokį lyčių lygybės skandalą?) Rašytojui egzistuoja tik du moterų tipažai: romano moterys - arba kekšės, arba davatkos. Ir tas patriarchalinis požiūris: moteris priklauso vyrui...

"- Taip jau yra, - sako jis. - Tokia yra meilė.

- Ar tai meilė? - paklausia ji.

- O, brangioji. Motina tau nieko nepasakojo?

- Ji sakė, kad turiu daryti visa, ko tu prašysi. Ji sakė, kad mano vestuvinė dovana tau - mano kūnas.

- Taip. Taip ir yra. Ir mano kūnas tau.

- Tada turi tai daryti, mano meile, - sukužda ji. - Tik pasakyk man, ko nori. Dabar aš priklausau tau."

Rimtai? Ir va taip rašo šiuolaikinis autorius?.. Net jei jis rašo apie praeitį, juk rašo ne apie viduramžius. Apie šalį, kuri turi stiprių moterų pavyzdžių prieš akis. Šalies, kurios karalienė Antrojo pasaulinio karo metu tarnavo motorizuotame pulke vairuotoja ir mechanike, atstovas, vadinasi... Gėda net...

Nepatiko - visiškai. Kančia man buvo su tavim, Nicholsonai. Užsiundysiu ant tavęs Femen.

[Julian Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because I have liked novels by this author before, and because I had just finished the first draft of my own novel about a love relationship set in the same period. I found the first part of this book disappointingly filled with cliches - handsome, daring soldier versus artistic, idealistic, sensitive rival, vying for the love of a woman who appears to be endlessly attractive to all men who catch a glimpse of her, peppered with hackneyed reflections on the meaning of life, spoken rather unrealistically by one character after another. It looked like what I imagine a Mills and Boone-style 'wartime romance' story might look. After about half way, though, the situation for the characters became more complicated and less stereotyped, so the whole thing became more interesting. There was a charming portrayal of a small child interwoven with some of the scenes which was nicely done. But at the end, the novelist's solution to the characters' problems seemed to be to kill off any people who were obstacles to a neat and happy ending and I found this rather laughable. I didn't, therefore, think very highly of this book, even though it was quite educational and encouraging for me to see how an experienced novelist can write a rather poorly realised story from time to time.

[Vaiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Istorija be pabaigos. Tarsi su žirklėmis būtum nukirpęs kino juostą net neparodžius titrų. O jau apie “pasakėčios moralą” tai net neverta kalbėti, nes arba jo nėra, arba jis žinomas tik pačiam autoriui ir mums lieka tik kelių sakinių apie meilę, kuri nesibaigia ir neblėsta, o su metais tik stiprėja, paragrafas.
Jau kliše tapęs siužetas apie du draugus įsimylėjusius tą pačią moterį papasakotas gal visai ir patraukliai, be jokių ten banalių padūsavimų ir ašaringų paverkšlenimų, tačiau kodėl prieš ir po šio pasakojimo įterpiamas šių dienų anūkės apsilankymas pas močiutę ir ką reiškia “visa virtinė klaidų”, ir kokia čia gyvenimo pamoką toji anūkė turi išmokti ir kokias savo šeimos paslaptis atrasti - lieka neaišku. Istorija galėjo tiesiog prasidėti ir baigtis su Kite, Edu ir Lariu. Ir popieriaus būtų šiek tiek sutaupyta, ir kažkokia tai prasmė atsirastų.

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

A bit downmarket, literary wise, for me.
I notice it was nominated for a bad sex award too, and apparently, it was recommended by the Daily Mail. That says it all!

[Jayne Slater · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story line, easy reading. Nice happy ending

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a challenging read and certainly not a ‘literary work’ but much more absorbing than ‘chick-lit’ and superior to Mills & Boon, but fiction that is difficult to categorise. This story is totally plot driven but it ’works’ although it is difficult to see why as the terse prose is seldom illuminating and the characters are utterly predictable.

But having said that the narrative is driven along at fast pace and surprises are in store despite the stereotypical behaviours described. it is a story of relationships amongst the well-to-do set against various backgrounds - military conflict, imperial service and post-war austerity.

The narrative arch follows three couples who seem to deserve each other but then fall out or entertain serious doubts and misgivings about their choices. Trite ? Certainly would seem so, and, sadly, the author doesn’t explore too deeply these failures of intimacy, but shows that these burdens can be borne with decent stiff upper lip.

Stylistically disappointing but a good yarn with enough convincing background to create a sense of time and place and provide an enjoyable holiday read.

[Sandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won this book and after reading some 50 pages i honestly couldn't stand it. That's saying something, because i usually give a book AT LEAST 100 and something pages. But i could barely stand the first 50. Imagine that. I think it's one of the most boring books i have ever read. Didn't like the characters at all. I can't even remember their names, 'oooops?'. If you have trouble falling asleep i think i just found you a 100 guarantee cure.

[Ana Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro me atrapó totalmente... Tal vez el inicio sea un poco lenta pero sin duda es una de las mejores historias de amor que he leído, además que contiene datos históricos ciertos sobre la guerra

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful book centred around the failed attempt to occupy Dieppe in 1942 and the subsequent impact on the key players

[Emily McCune]

I do not like this book. I gave it 100 pages, but I quit. 1) It's shaping up to be JUST like the story behind the film "Pearl Harbor", which, I mean, is FINE, but it sort of annoys me, and I'm finding myself thinking it's just "copy-catting". 2) The author is ALL OVER THE PLACE. I consider myself an intelligent woman, and a great reader. But when I get all the way to the end of a two- or three-page chunk of story and I find out that, all along, there was somebody else in the picture that the author failed to mention from the get-go? Yeaaahh, that's super annoying and hard to follow. I found myself re-reading page after page of this book just trying to understand what was going on. There were random and HIGHLY un-fitting swear words thrown in here that really rubbed me the wrong way, and an explicit sex scene that, even if it DID fit the story (which, it kind of did not), was rushed and sort of "thrown together". Yeah, I'm not gonna keep on keepin' with this one even though I HATE starting books and not finishing them. Bummer. I was excited about this one, too. Can't wait to hear what my book club ladies thought about it!

[Catherine Stickann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book from First Reads, Thank you to Goodreads and Simon & Schuster. Though the author is an award winning screenwriter, playwright, television writer and novelist, I evaluated this book on its own merit.

I found the book to start out slow, not really grabbing the reader from the beginning. The novel takes the reader across the globe. For me the best writing was on the beach at the historic Dieppe raid. Here Nicholson puts forth a realistic account of the action.

This story is about Ed, Lawrence, and Kitty a so to speak triangle love affair. Best friends, Ed and Larry are in the Dieppe raid and often together throughout the book. This is the story of human emotion and compensation for what each is missing in their lives. The story is full of surprises and adventures, some adding wonderfully to the story, others leaving the me wondering why.

I felt the author should have left out the sex descriptions as they were awkward, raw and distracting. Certainly they did not match the rest of the narrative. The ending is particularly strong and left me satisfied, too bad the author couldn't have maintained this strength throughout.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished Motherland by William Nicholson. I haven't read previous books by this author, but am looking forward to going back and getting caught up -- especially after reading the Author's Note to this book, and finding that some persons, places and things have evolved through the years.


I wondered at the title -- as I often do. I guess "Fatherland" might refer to Germany. In this book, it is truly the mothers who fight to keep normalcy and sanity while the men go to fight. War can't be forgotten, whether or not you were a hero, as Ed and Larry show so vividly.


I loved the prose in this book, the descriptions of the French battle, the English countryside, the tumultuous feelings from hope to despair to resignation and, always, love. Love in its various iterations. Love desired, love renewed, love fulfilled, love of convenience, love of passion. Memorable characters living in an up-and-down world.


Beautiful writing, wonderful book.


The Golden Hour is next up.

[Abe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book on good reads. I was put off by the writer's dry writing style and colorless characters in the beginning. But like a good boy I finished my reading assignment. Eventually the writing became conversational and was much easier to read and eventually i began to like some of the characters. The writer is all over the place. He attempts to get into discussions on religion, free will, philosophy, psychology and sexuality, however, he only scratches the surface in most of his discussions. I was surprised at how shallow his characters were. They move through experiences in wartime and relationships yet they learn so little along the way. They constantly search for answers but rarely build upon their personal lessons. Mostly this is a love story and I'm sure it will appeal to many readers. I suppose we all relate to matters of the heart. I think the writer tries to make the story more than it is but the reader should just accept it for what it is.

[Suzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out promisingly but was a bit dreary and overly long. We first meet Kitty & Louisa during the war, and they are best friends but very different. Kitty seems independent but falls for a commando, Ed whilst his friend Larry falls for Kitty. The rest of the novel follows the same characters through time but Larry becomes more of the focus and Kitty becomes not only a peripheral character but a dull conformist. I struggled to keep going and found the ending to be silly and contrived. Not a terrible read but just not what I was hoping for.

[Wendy Greenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hugely ambitious scope. War, empire, Catholicism, love, family, art, loss, post-war, colonialism and more. Overlong and some appalling dialogue in the first section however good plot and some great characters but many fall away into cliche. I did enjoy the book but felt it needed a very good editor to prune the plotlines so the story would have had more impact. Overplayed some parts and yet other parts were just left unfinished.

[Isla McKetta · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best thing about this book was coming home one day and finding the ARC from a Goodreads giveaway on my doorstep. It's a sprawling tale of existing in unhappiness for the sake of doing the "right thing." I might have enjoyed it at half the length because the writing is fine, but mostly I wanted to shake the characters and/or throw most of them off a cliff.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicholson hasn't ever let me down. Motherland for me is rather like a Neville Shute novel written in a modern style and phrasing.

[Pedro Monardes · Rating 2 out of 5]

El autor describe así su novela:

"Es básicamente una historia de amor, pero me gusta considerarla una historia de amor épica".

Lo cierto es que sí es una historia de amor, pero lo de épico yo lo pondría en duda. A menos que se tenga por épico cualquier relato que incluya una batalla. No, no es una historia épica, es una historia. Podría ser una historia bien contada, pero incluso aquello es debatible.

Veamos, la novela se inicia con un prólogo que aborda el viaje de una chica inglesa a Francia después de una ruptura amorosa. Allí va a conocer a su abuela de quien no sabía nada hasta hace muy poco. Al parecer, tanto su padre como su abuela y su bisabuela cometieron errores en sus vidas amorosas y ella continúa la tradición, sin embargo, su abuela le descubre que aquello no es tan cierto. Así comienza la historia de la bisabuela. Hasta aquí la historia promete y deja al lector pendiente de saber los pormenores de lo que se habrá de revelar.

En el capítulo 1 la historia se ubica en 1942 y comienza a avanzar desde allí en un relato con un ritmo muy desigual que aborda hechos históricos y ficticios con una prosa que yo calificaría como fría y un tanto carente de emoción. Los personajes algo estereotipados: Ed, el chico misterioso con una mirada que oculta una tristeza indefinible y Kitty, la chica deseada por todos que no puede evitar ser tan especial. Hay también un tercer personaje principal: Larry, el mejor amigo de Ed y cuya historia va a la par de la pareja.

En mi opinión, el problema que presenta esta novela es la forma en que está escrita y la cantidad de temas que aborda que parecen alejar el foco de la historia y alargar el argumento en forma innecesaria: a través de sus páginas se aborda la batalla de Dieppe, la independencia de la India, la relación con la United Fruit y su rol en las dictaduras centroamericanas y hasta un relato sobre los cátaros de Carcassone cuya inclusión solo tiene sentido para explicar ciertas características de uno de los personajes principales; una idea bastante forzada, desde luego.

Los cambios de escenario recuerdan los de una película en que las imágenes cuentan más que las palabras. Por ejemplo, el siguiente diálogo que se encuentra en la página 591:

"—¿Largaros adónde?
—Había pensado en Dieppe.
[...]
—De acuerdo —dice Ed, bruscamente—. Iremos.
Aparcan frente a uno de los hoteles y recorren el camino de hormigón flanqueado por dos franjas de hierba en las que unos niños juegan al fútbol hasta alcanzar la franja de hormigón más ancha que es el paseo marítimo."

En estas líneas es posible imaginar la escena en que se lleva a cabo la conversación y luego la escena del vehículo aparcando en la ciudad que decidieron visitar, tal como ocurriría en un guion cinematográfico, pero sospecho que en un texto literario se necesita algo más para pasar de una escena a otra. Esta forma de escribir se repite continuamente, con el mínimo de descripciones que se requiere para que no resulte una lista de compras.

De algún modo sentí que el autor no logró desarrollar personajes enteramente creíbles, me pareció que tanto hombres como mujeres habían sido creados por una mente masculina, lo que no deja de ser cierto, pero eché de menos una profundización en la sicología de cada uno de ellos. En el resto de los personajes no se advierte un desarrollo emocional, a través de los años son siempre los mismos.

Dos excepciones: la tristeza de Ed, esa "oscuridad" de la que él habla, se vincula muy bien con el estrés postraumático que sufre al regresar de la guerra y eso, afortunadamente, nunca se menciona explícitamente. La segunda es la depresión post parto de Louisa que tampoco se menciona jamás como tal —quizás el concepto ni siquiera existía en esos tiempos—, pero que para el lector actual resulta evidente.

El final resulta algo previsible, pero me gustó.

En resumen una novela con altibajos que pudo ser más, pero que se quedó en el intento.

[Huw Rhys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you every once in a while find a book that you love so much you just don't want to finish reading it, so you eke out the last few pages for as long as you can? For me, this was one of those books.

It is one of those "epic" books that spans decades. This starts at the time of the Second World War, and extends to contemporary times. As with stories such as "Any Human Heart" and "Forrest Gump" and most of Bernard Cornwell''s novels, this has a fictional hero at its centre who bumps in and out of real history, and real historical people.

I won't say who our hero is as it isn't obvious until a good way through, so I don't want to spoil a single delicious morsel for anyone who is going to read this book. But we have events from the Second World War, we meet artists, we follow the story of one of the UK's best known businesses, we experience the partition of India and Pakistan and we dip in and out of other historical and political highlights of the 1940's, 50's and 60's.

Some might feel that some of the endings throughout the novel were a little contrived; others may find the love elements of the novel a little sugary and predictable.

Personally, none of that bothers me - this is a cracking story, set on a captivating canvas. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Maria Nolze · Rating 4 out of 5]

'How little we are,...how ridiculous, how lost, in the eye of eternity’ ✨

I read Motherland by William Nicholson, an award-winning screenwriter (worked on movies such as Shadowlands & Gladiator) a little while ago.

For me this was a 3.75/5 ⭐️ 📖 The story is set in WWII and evolves around the failed attempt to occupy Dieppe in 1942.
It is an extremely touching story about love & loss.
It evolves around the three main characters: Ed & Larry (best friends) as well as Kitty, who are struggling to find happiness and meaning amid the long shadows the war left behind.

❤️ Very emotionally engaging, extremely cinematic and what I found to be very interesting this book is showing lots of different facets of what it means to be human.

💔 Sometimes the plot slowed down a bit and was not too interesting. You can feel the screenplay-type writing and then the story would feel a bit empty or flat.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 600 pages, long for me, did not flag and this was an incredible story with a number of issues. I think he got a good period feel for the war and life afterwards and portrayed a group of close friends and girl friends and wives really well. It brought up a lot of issues, the stranglehold that Catholicism had at that time, in schools that have now, although famous, been closed for historical abuse. And the lastingness of relationships and marriage in general, the struggle of adaptation to the post second world war world and to family life. Some of the characters are covered in other books and it makes me want to read more. It is quite tough on the difficulties of male sexuality and I welcome that in a world where some see all men as rapists. But although it's in the book, it can be put aside if you want.

[Bh · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5.
Picked this up in a panic from a high street charity shop because I’d come away from home with only one book.
Turned out to be the best fiction book I’ve read in ages. Lacks the subtle complexity of Boyd and Faulks (mentioned on the cover) and with an occasional tendency for characters to identify the themes they are talking about or state the obvious to prevent it from being 5 star material. I think his real skill is in stopping a character everyone is in love with from being dislikable, and a character who feels sorry for himself all the time the same.
Never read Nicholson before. Shall be looking out for his other work.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfectly passable/readable book, but nothing special. The blurb on the cover is totally overblown ("a total triumph"...? Nah mate).

Beach read, but get it on kindle because the heft of the book is ridiculous.

Also, can authors stop introducing a present day sub plot only to do literally nothing with it? It drives me insane...

[Annelien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite liked this book. It took place over the course of more than just one year and still is pretty detailed. Loved the writing style of the author. In hindsight I wanna say the story is more about infatuation than about a love triangle, which was what the cover of the book told me it was about. No hard feelings tho, the story's made up for that.

[Danny · Rating 3 out of 5]

After thinking it for a second I’m pretty sure 3.5 is the top score I can give to this book. I was definitely delighted with it until the middle point of the story, which actually made me kind of sad, mostly because I felt like I knew these specific characters that changed a little bit too fast and too drastically for my taste. Anyhow, it was a love story that I enjoyed.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, but I didn't feel that it all gelled together. Like he wanted to write a war story, and a partition of India story, and a love story, and then decided to roll them up together. The framing beginning and end pieces were very weak, I thought, they might just as well have been left out. And what on earth did the title have to do with any of it?

[Angelo Ernesto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro muy bueno. Al principio de la historia, todo lo que abarca los sucesos que pasan durante la guerra me parecen un poco aburridos, pero ya después de que acaba la guerra el libro se pone muy interesante y entretenido, me gustó mucho el romance de la historia.