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Between Mountains
Between Mountains
May 6, 2025 3:22 PM

Author:Maggie Helwig

Between Mountains

Maggie Helwig's stunning British debut is an extraordinary war novel, a poignant and gripping story about the ripples that carry on long after the fighting is over, and about two people kept apart by history, ethics and human frailty.

Daniel is a war correspondent in Bosnia, a loner and a truthteller, up to a point, careless with everything except his sources. Lili is an interpreter, based in Paris, careful and meticulous. But when she finds herself working for the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, fails to declare her fragile relationship with Daniel.

Between Mountains is a compelling novel of immediacy and power, about love and language, truth and lies, war crimes and the weight of history - with a vividly evoked and frighteningly real supporting cast of war criminals, lawyers, refugees and journalists.

Reviews

This challenging dark chronicle of modern Europe touches the same nerves as Rachel Seiffert's The Dark Room

—— Guardian

Profound...elegantly written...it is at once a tender love story, a compelling narrative about recent history, and an unflinching account of human cruelty and sacrifice

—— Literary Review

A passionate and poetic love story which never flinches from its task of exploring the way history compromises our lives

—— Ben Richards, author of The Mermaids and the Drunks

A candid and moving account of the struggle to reconcile the past with hope for the future

—— Guardian

Between Mountains...[is] a profound gesture of remembrance, as well as a deeply moving work of art

—— Michael Redhill, author of Martin Sloane

In this wise, humane and beautifully written novel she has written a masterpiece

—— Independent

A searing historical novel. Dunmore vividly evokes the unbelievable cold, privations and violence as people struggle to survive...an extraordinary description of the horrors of the time

—— Sunday Express

An important as well as a thrilling work of art

—— Independent on Sunday

A moving and powerful novel in which Dunmore employs all her celebrated descriptive and narrative skills...beautiful

—— Daily Mail

A harrowing, urgent narrative of cold, starvation and the battle to survive

—— Sunday Times

It is quite outstanding, full of beauty, pain and truth... We are lucky to have this book

—— Anne Chisholm , Sunday Telegraph

The facts surrounding the discovery of this book are as remarkable as its contents are magnificent... A triumph of indomitability and a masterwork of literary accomplishment

—— Sunday Times

Deftly translated by Sandra Smith, this is possibly the most devastating indictment of French manners and morals since Madame Bovary, as hypnotic as Proust at the biscuit tin, as gruelling as Genet on the prowl. Irène Nemirovsky is, on this evidence, a novelist of the very first order, perceptive to a fault and sly in her emotional restraint

—— Evening Standard

An heroic attempt to write a novel about a nightmare in which the author is entirely embedded

—— Anita Brookner , Spectator

Read this haunting novel, then read [Nemirovsky’s] letters in this edition to feel the full force of the work

—— Fiona Wilson , The Times

While marked by poppy wearing and memorial ceremonies, the First World War is also sustained through family history, handed down from one generation to the next. No book better articulates the impact of this narrative than Stephen Faulks’ Birdsong.

—— Lucy Middleton , Reader's Digest

A truly amazing read

—— Gail Teasdale , 24housing

I’d never read such descriptive literature, and couldn’t sleep at night for thinking about what I’d just read. His [Faulks] portrayal of terror on the battlefield is so powerful

—— Anna Redman , Good Housekeeping

My all-time favourite book

—— Kate Garraway , Good Housekeeping
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