the aftermath book review guardian

Hungry Citizens of Hamburg, Germany 1945

The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook – review

I n Hamburg just after the war, the crucial question, if you were German, was whether you were white or black. The denazification process carried out by the occupying powers entailed the filling in of a 133-question fragebogen that would determine the degree of a German citizen's collaboration with the regime. "From this they were categorised into three colour-coded groups – black, grey or white, with intermediate shades for clarity – and despatched accordingly." As a means of probing into the souls of its subjects, the questionnaire was a blunt instrument, and there was endless suspicion about the true colour of the German citizenry. In a delightful vignette towards the end of this novel, set in a certification office, a cold, sinister gentleman turning the pages of a novel with gloved hands is given his papers, while a nervous young woman is told to come back for further interrogation. The stereotypes no longer apply and deeply held assumptions are constantly challenged.

Colonel Lewis Morgan arrives in this world of shattered buildings and broken spirits charged with overseeing the reconstruction in the British zone. He has an idealistic, forgiving nature, seeing the Germans as a people crushed first by Hitler, then by the allied pounding of their cities. When he requisitions a fine home on the banks of the Elbe, he allows its owner, former architect Herr Lubert, and his daughter to remain in residence. It is a decision that baffles most and shocks some, not least Lewis's wife Rachael. She arrives later, still deep in grief for the loss of her eldest son, killed by a stray bomb that had "hurled her across the floor of the sitting room like a rag doll". Perhaps because she has witnessed her son's death she is more deeply affected than her husband by the sufferings of the local people. They are still pulling bodies from the rubble – on one occasion, Pompeii-like, two embracing skeletons are discovered.

Nevertheless, with British resolve, Rachael accepts the situation, so long as the Germans remain in their part of the house and don't "fraternise" – a word that puzzles her surviving son Edmund when he reads a guidebook on how to deal with the population. "Don't try to be kind – this is regarded as weakness. Keep Germans in their place. Don't show hatred: the Germans will be flattered." Rachael's interpretation of German character is even less forgiving – "When all is said and done, Germans are bad." Thankfully, Edmund is a repository of innocent wonder and trustingness, and ignores all the advice in his book.

It soon becomes apparent that the house on the Elbe is to be a site where prejudices will be tested, emotions awakened and viewpoints altered. It is akin to Hamlet 's Elsinore – oppressive, claustrophobic, haunted by shadows and suspicions. Lubert's family mirrors the Morgans. The father lost his wife in a raid and is in prolonged mourning. The daughter, Freda, 15 years old and pigtailed, is a seething mass of resentment, as if all the energy of the fallen regime had taken up residence in her body. She does exercises using The Magic Mountain as a counterweight ("You should try Shakespeare, or perhaps the Atlas," her father remarks). She flashes her knickers as a sign of dominance at innocent Edmund, and, like an animal marking its territory, delivers a chamberpot full of hot piss into his room.

Gradually, the house does its work. Lewis and Rachael's sexual standoff turns her increasingly towards the dignified and civilised Lubert. But is he as white as he seems? On the wall there is the outline of a painting that has been removed, and one of Rachael's gossipy English friends suggests it was a portrait of the Führer. "You think all this comes without compromise?" she says of the grandly furnished house. When Lewis is sent away to the archipelago of Heligoland to work on the destruction of munitions, he almost knowingly allows Lubert and Rachael the space needed to indulge their increasing fascination for each other. As even Freda begins to soften towards Edmund, it seems possible that the house can be a true site of reconciliation. But there are further levels of loyalty and betrayal to negotiate before anything approaching a resolution can be reached.

The strength of this novel lies in its superb management of the various lines of narrative tension, alongside a painfully clear portrait of Germany in defeat, conjuring surprise after surprise as it shows how the forces of politics and history penetrate even the most intimate moments of its characters' emotional lives. By the end of the novel they seem as exposed as those embracing skeletons, and the new Germany is glimpsed, just visible beyond the interminable piles of rubble.

History books

Comments (…)

More From Forbes

Book review: harald jahner’s fascinating and depressing ‘aftermath’.

Share to Facebook
Share to Twitter
Share to Linkedin

“I spent my career as an academic studying great depressions. I can tell you from history that if we don’t act in a big way, you can expect another great depression, and this time it’s going to be far, far worse.” Those are the words of then Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. He directed them in 2008 to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The often wrong, never in doubt Bernanke quite literally believed that a failure to bail out institutions like Citibank (as of 2008 it had already been saved four times previously) would cause the mother of all economic collapses; one that would take many, many years to recover from.

It’s hard to know where to begin. To paraphrase Henry Hazlitt about economists who believe in the impossibility that is a “savings glut” (Bernanke naturally does), it’s hard to imagine even the ignorant could believe something so ridiculous. But Bernanke did, and still obviously does. He felt that absent the propping up of financial institutions that actual market actors no longer felt worth saving, the U.S. economy would implode; recovery a very distant object. To say that Bernanke got things backwards insults understatement. You build an economy by bailing out what’s holding it down? The very notion …The sad and comical reality is that Bernanke to this day believes himself the hero of 2008. Delusion is powerful.

Bernanke’s self-regard came to mind while reading German journalist Harald Jahner’s fascinating and obviously depressing 2022 book, Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955 . Anyone who reads Jahner’s study of how just how thoroughly wrecked Germany was in terms of humans and property will see just how desperately foolish Bernanke’s assertion was. Germany was rubble , period. The rubble was so ever-present that it was a cultural phenomenon that Jahner notes inspired books, plays, and movies.

In numeric terms Germany’s “starving, tattered, shivering, poverty-stricken” people moved about, often aimlessly amid “500 million cubic metres of rubble.” If piled up, “the rubble would have produced a mountain 4,000 metres high,” which in feet terms amounts to something on the order of 13,000. There were 40 cubic meters of rubble per each surviving Dresden resident. Properly, “former Nazi Party members were pressed to work to help remove the rubble” that they had such an outsize role in instigating.

Cologne’s pre-war population was 770,000. Post-war? 40,000. More than 5 million German soldiers had died in the war, at war’s end over 6.5 million were still in POW camps, and of those who returned, they were near completely destroyed. More on return from war in a bit, but as a preview, Jahner described the returnees as individuals who “hobbled around on crutches, groaning and spitting blood.” Bernanke is a prominent member of a profession that near monolithically believes war is economically stimulative…

Yet there was recovery in Germany. Those with reasonable knowledge of history know the latter to be true, not to mention what we can visually see in Germany today. The people are a country’s economy, the German people were bludgeoned by a war that they (and most notably their primitive leadership) tragically brought on, but they recovered. In Frankfurt, a rubble reprocessing plant was built such that new Frankfurt “sprang from the ruins of old Frankfurt.” It hopefully makes one think: what we deem “crisis” in the U.S. is anything but in a relative sense. And while it’s shooting fish in a barrel to say that bank failures are microscopic barriers to recovery contra Bernanke, these fish need to be shot. Over and over again . If people are interested in being reasonable, it should similarly be said over and over again that as opposed to restraining rebound, business failure is the surest sign of an economy in recovery as the mediocre and bad are relieved of directing crucial resources (human and physical) to their best use so that the good and great can take their place.

Best Travel Insurance Companies

Best covid-19 travel insurance plans.

Descriptive as Jahner plainly is, it’s no insight to say that there’s really no way for him or anyone to adequately describe the physical and mental state of Germany in the post-war years. Still, it’s valuable to contemplate as a reminder for all of how crucial it is to avoid war, and perhaps more importantly, to avoid glorifying it.

In the Germany that hobbled out of a needless war, “nothing belonged to anyone anymore, unless they were sitting on it.” Really, what would people have desired to keep amid so much nothingness? As for food, the people were once again starving.

Amid all this devastation, it’s fascinating to read that it was “also a time of laughing, dancing, flirting, and lovemaking.” Life goes on? Jahner observes that “death’s proximity” oddly fostered “delight in life.” It brought to mind (in a sense) George Melloan’s observation about the years of the Great Depression in Whiteland, IN in his very excellent book When the New Deal Came to Town (review here ). While only an abject fool would compare the relative economic want in the U.S. of the 1930s to the hell that was post-war Germany, Melloan described the decade as a time when Whitelanders "ate, slept, made love, raised children, and tried to keep body and soul together by finding ways to make a living.” There’s perhaps an indomitable aspect of the human spirit that cannot be crushed? One hopes. There has to be after reading Jahner’s book.

The endless destruction also brought on a lot of re-invention. It’s eye-opening for sure, but really not surprising? With so many who remembered the past exterminated, and so much of the past erased in general, “swarms of fake doctors, fake aristocrats and marriage impostors” emerged. Fascinating.

In 1952, there was The Equalization of Burdens Act, whereby those “who had only suffered slight damage as a result of the war” were required “to pay up to half of what they owned so that those who had nothing could survive.” In pure economic terms, the rule was senseless. Destroying value hardly creates more of it. Better it would have been to allow those with something to keep what was theirs as a form of capital that would attract investment. The bet here is that the rule hindered recovery. Collectivism’s origins are German, so maybe that explains the Burdens Act, or can it be sympathetically said that the Act was written at a time when no one knew anything? Seriously, how do you talk about property when so much has been destroyed? How do you explain it? Jahner observes that “If skill and hard work had hitherto been seen to correlate in some way to success and property, that connection had now literally been blown apart.”

The main thing is Germany once again recovered. This rates thought and repeated thought as a reminder of the stupidity of bailouts and intervention in countries like the U.S. As readers will learn from Aftermath , nothing is forever. Central bankers and economists more broadly should be required to read Jahner’s account of revival from the rubble, but also to understand currency policy better. While your reviewer wishes Jahner had spent more time on Ludwig Erhard and his reforms that fostered what the author deems a miracle, his discussion of currencies was very worthwhile. He writes that in Germany, the “cigarette became the cowry shell of the post-war era.” While its “exchange rate might have fluctuated,” the cigarette “remained one of the more dependable certainties of those years.” Cigarettes circulated more than the reichsmark. Stop and think about that. What’s lousy as money plainly disappears, and it does precisely because all trade is products for products; money the measure of value that facilitates exchange. Since cigarettes had real market value, they were better as an exchange medium.

Jahner goes on to write that “Doubts about the reichsmark meant that traders had held back more and more goods, hoarding for the day when there would be a stable currency with better prices in the future.” Brilliant! Money on its own is not wealth, but if accepted as a credible measure, money facilitates the exchange that is the basis of all production. By 1948 the deutsche mark was introduced, and with its peg to a dollar that was pegged to gold, Germany had a credible currency again. And “shops filled up with goods overnight.” Precisely . We produce in order to get things, in order to import , but without a credible medium there’s no need to bring goods to market for “money” that is anything but such that it commands little in the marketplace.

Interesting for American readers about all of this is the assertion from George Marshall that “The manufacturer and farmer throughout wide areas must be able and willing to exchange their product for currencies, the continuing value of which is not open to question.” Absolutely. And Marshall’s quote explains why the State not only didn’t invent money, but also why money would be abundant with or without the central banks that those who should know much better spend so much time thinking about. Since we produce in order to consume, credible money is essential as a way for us producers to exchange with one another. Which means money of credible quality doesn’t just facilitate trade, it’s also an essential driver of economic specialization without which there’s no growth. Marshall got it. Though his Marshall Plan’s spending as a driver of economic revival is an obvious myth, he should be credited for understanding money in the 1940s in a way that few understand it today.

Jahner writes that “Food rationing was an intervention in the free market.” Germans were limited to 1,550 calories per day, and they could only get those insufficient calories with stamps. “Without these stamps you got nothing.” Jahner was making the correct and sad point that without markets, shortages arise. Indeed, he’s clear that the stamps entitling Germans to 1,550 calories per day didn’t always get them that. Jahner writes so well that the stamps “infantilized the population.” Worse, it brought on the “’deprofessionalisation of criminality.’” Post-war was a “’time of wolves.’”

At the same time, a stretch of years defined by lots of crime born of market intervention ultimately created a real market. In Jahner’s words, “Any market restriction automatically creates its own black market.” The rules were 1,550 calories per day, which meant the people worked around the rules. Jahner cites estimates “that at least a third, sometimes even half, of the goods in circulation were being traded illegally.” Markets speak. Always they do. Thank goodness they do.

A great friend once remarked about the late Pat Conroy’s comments on Vietnam service with disdain. The Citadel grad in Conroy said with hindsight that he wished he’d fought in the war. My friend’s response was “No, you don’t wish you’d fought in Vietnam, you wish you had come home from Vietnam .” It all made sense, and in a sense still does, but Aftermath surely causes a rethink. In some ways, coming home for the defeated soldiers was the worst part.

For families, the thought of a surviving father actually returning from war embodied “the promise of a better life.” Not so fast. The returnee wasn’t the person who’d left. Not even close. Jahner writes that “all of a sudden he was standing at the door, barely recognizable, scruffy, emaciated and hobbling. A stranger, an invalid.” The site was said to be shocking. “Eyes stared out of dark hollows from which all delight in life seemed to have vanished. The shaven skulls and sunken cheeks intensified the impression of one half-dead.”

The “half-dead” no longer mattered. “Most children stoutly refused to sit on the knee of a ghost.” And then “it was now a country run by women.” Not only did the soldiers return from hell defeated, they did so only to realize they’d been replaced in a very real way, and that “as a result their wives had changed too.” Returning husbands were more than “superfluous.” If as was so often the case the family was broke, there was little these broken men could do to improve their economic circumstances.

Insecure, the men lashed out. They searched for ways to lift themselves up by demeaning others; their kids who didn’t know them and didn’t view them as providers, and their wives. One wife wrote of how her husband berated her for not raising the kids well in his absence such that they didn’t know how to use forks and knives when the wife cooked the rarest of delicacies for dinner: a roast.” In the wife’s words, “During the blockade everything had been powdered.” They’d never used forks and knives. In short, homecoming was not homecoming . Jahner writes that the Heimkehrer men were “homecomers,” but not in the heroic, kissing the girl in Times Square kind of way. Coming home was a “state of being,” a “disability,” and a tragic one at that. Of those lucky enough to come home, there “was much discussion of the experience of seeing a leg-stump for the first time.”

It’s all terrible to read, at which point some readers will perhaps understandably respond that the returning German soldiers deserved their hell. Jahner reminds readers that the “Russians had lost 27 million people” during this most tragic of wars, many Russian soldiers “had fought for four years without a day’s leave,” and they’d seen their families and land destroyed by the Germans. Jahner quotes a Red Army soldier as saying “I took revenge, and would take revenge again.” This is the other side of the story. As my recent review of Giles Milton’s very excellent Checkmate In Berlin made plain, the arriving Soviets brutalized the German people in the sickest of ways. Of course, the Russians would say the Germans had done much worse. We turn to Jahner again for a comment from a German woman who was terrorized and presumably raped by the Russians as accepting of her treatment as “terrible payback for what our men did in Russia.” What to make of all this? Does cruel treatment justify the same in return?

Back to the Heimkehrer , broken as the returning men were, superfluous as they’d in a sense become, they were in a macabre sort of way a hot commodity. Again, five million mostly youthful German men had died in the war, millions more were once again in camps, not to mention that anyone “who had survived [the war] had been spat out by it, somewhere far from what had once been their home.” Few were where they should be, but if male, you were somewhat unique. As of 1950, there were 1,362 women for every 1,000 men, and this gave them confidence at a time when the latter wasn’t abundant. Men were paradoxically “needed” despite a war that had rendered them less essential upon conclusion. Men also in a sense represented protection from other men “wildly knocking at doors, breaking in, beating and raping the occupants.” In the war’s aftermath, “up to 2 million women were raped, often repeatedly.”

What about the children? Jahner reports that 1.6 million had either lost one parent, or were fully orphaned? As always, this stuff is incredibly hard to read. Hopefully it serves as perspective? In my case, if I ever hear some dope on either side of the political aisle claiming some U.S. politician is “destroying” America, or if I hear an economist claim America will be destroyed without their preferred intervention, or if some sociologist claims “social media” is “tearing America apart,” it will take a lot of restraint to keep me from correcting these spoiled individuals in rather contemptuous fashion.

Of course, in writing all of this about a book about post-war Germany, the proverbial elephant must be obvious. So much suffering has been discussed, but no mention of the Holocaust. About it, Jahner writes in disapproving fashion that in post-war Germany “there was hardly so much as a word about the holocaust.” Why? One speculation of Jahner is that the Germans knew , and in knowing, their view was that “the crimes committed against the Jews were no less than what they essentially remain: unspeakable.” The response here is that “unspeakable” isn’t a worthy excuse. Notable about what’s hard to contemplate is that part of the country’s post-war “denazification” was required viewing of documentaries about the concentration camps. Jahner reports that those who didn’t look away or who weren’t “staring firmly at the floor,” and who “had seen the mountains of corpses on the screen vomited or collapsed in tears as they left” the theater, yet they didn’t discuss it. One other anecdote: American director extraordinaire Billy Wilder, who had left Germany in 1933, and who “had lost many family members in the camps,” was not a fan of the documentaries when asked to pass judgement. In his estimation, “we cannot afford to antagonize” a people we’re now allied with.

It’s apparent Jahner thinks there wasn’t enough atonement. He sees it as a cop-out that so many chose to bill themselves victims of Adolf Hitler. In his harrowing words, “The collective agreement of most Germans to count themselves among Hitler’s victims amounts to an intolerable insolence.” But at the same time it’s an insolence Jahner is willing to live with. As he sees it, the collective victimhood “was a necessary prerequisite because it formed the mental basis for a new beginning.” In other words, Germany had to move on. It had to become a country again.

Which is what this remarkable book is about; Germany reforming in the aftermath of something indescribably horrific. Jahner writes that the “intention of this book has been to explain how the majority of Germans, for all their stubborn rejection of individual guilt; at the same time managed to rid themselves of the mentality that had made the Nazi regime possible.” My conclusion is that Jahner’s intent was in a sense impossible. How to explain the brutal Germans that were, and the peaceful, civilized, growth-focused people they’ve become? There’s no way to, and that’s not a knock on Harald Jahner. It’s more an expression of horror about what people can become, while asking if what’s unspeakable could happen again.

Editorial Standards
Reprints & Permissions

ADMIN AREA MY BOOKSHELF MY DASHBOARD MY PROFILE SIGN OUT SIGN IN

LIFE IN THE FALLOUT OF THE THIRD REICH, 1945-1955

by Harald Jähner ; translated by Shaun Whiteside ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 11, 2022

An absorbing and well-documented history of postwar Germany.

An illuminating study of the decade following the defeat of the Third Reich.

In his engrossing first book, Jähner, the former editor of the Berlin Times , examines how and why Germany was capable of radically transforming from a sinister fascist mindset toward a modern democratic state. The author presents an expansive yet sharply probing overview of the period, reaching across political, social, and geographical spheres to draw a lucid portrait of a country reeling from the stark consequences of being on the losing side of a horrendous war. “The intention of this book,” writes the author, “has been to explain how the majority of Germans, for all their stubborn rejection of individual guilt, at the same time managed to rid themselves of the mentality that had made the Nazi regime possible.” Jähner chronicles the political events that transpired during the time period and weaves in personal stories from the correspondences of ordinary citizens and eyewitness accounts from noted writers such as Hannah Arendt that articulate the desperate spirit of the era. The author vividly describes the physical chaos impacting cities such as Dresden, Berlin, and Hamburg that were slowly trying to rebuild. As Jähner notes, “the war had left about 500 million cubic metres of rubble behind,” and he offer striking portraits of the grim realities faced by the millions of forced laborers and prisoners of war returning home to strained marriages and relationships. “Many marriages with the Heimkehrer [homecomer] husbands collapsed because each partner felt nothing but disdain for what the other had endured,” he writes. “It wasn’t just women who felt a lack of recognition, the men did too. Many soldiers only really grasped that they had lost the war when they returned to their families.” An immediate and long-lasting bestseller when it was published in Germany in 2019 and the winner of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize, Jähner’s shrewdly balanced look at postwar Germany is sure to spark the interest of readers across the world.

Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-593-31973-4

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021

Share your opinion of this book

More by Harald Jähner

BOOK REVIEW

by Harald Jähner

More About This Book

10 Nonfiction Books From Around the World

PERSPECTIVES

by Ernie Pyle ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 26, 2001

The Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist (1900–45) collected his work from WWII in two bestselling volumes, this second published in 1944, a year before Pyle was killed by a sniper’s bullet on Okinawa. In his fine introduction to this new edition, G. Kurt Piehler (History/Univ. of Tennessee at Knoxville) celebrates Pyle’s “dense, descriptive style” and his unusual feel for the quotidian GI experience—a personal and human side to war left out of reporting on generals and their strategies. Though Piehler’s reminder about wartime censorship seems beside the point, his biographical context—Pyle was escaping a troubled marriage—is valuable. Kirkus , at the time, noted the hoopla over Pyle (Pulitzer, hugely popular syndicated column, BOMC hype) and decided it was all worth it: “the book doesn’t let the reader down.” Pyle, of course, captures “the human qualities” of men in combat, but he also provides “an extraordinary sense of the scope of the European war fronts, the variety of services involved, the men and their officers.” Despite Piehler’s current argument that Pyle ignored much of the war (particularly the seamier stuff), Kirkus in 1944 marveled at how much he was able to cover. Back then, we thought, “here’s a book that needs no selling.” Nowadays, a firm push might be needed to renew interest in this classic of modern journalism.

Pub Date: April 26, 2001

ISBN: 0-8032-8768-2

Page Count: 513

Publisher: Univ. of Nebraska

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2001

GENERAL HISTORY | MILITARY | HISTORY

MADHOUSE AT THE END OF THE EARTH

The belgica 's journey into the dark antarctic night.

by Julian Sancton ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 4, 2021

A rousing, suspenseful adventure tale.

A harrowing expedition to Antarctica, recounted by Departures senior features editor Sancton, who has reported from every continent on the planet.

On Aug. 16, 1897, the steam whaler Belgica set off from Belgium with young Adrien de Gerlache as commandant. Thus begins Sancton’s riveting history of exploration, ingenuity, and survival. The commandant’s inexperienced, often unruly crew, half non-Belgian, included scientists, a rookie engineer, and first mate Roald Amundsen, who would later become a celebrated polar explorer. After loading a half ton of explosive tonite, the ship set sail with 23 crew members and two cats. In Rio de Janeiro, they were joined by Dr. Frederick Cook, a young, shameless huckster who had accompanied Robert Peary as a surgeon and ethnologist on an expedition to northern Greenland. In Punta Arenas, four seamen were removed for insubordination, and rats snuck onboard. In Tierra del Fuego, the ship ran aground for a while. Sancton evokes a calm anxiety as he chronicles the ship’s journey south. On Jan. 19, 1898, near the South Shetland Islands, the crew spotted the first icebergs. Rough waves swept someone overboard. Days later, they saw Antarctica in the distance. Glory was “finally within reach.” The author describes the discovery and naming of new lands and the work of the scientists gathering specimens. The ship continued through a perilous, ice-littered sea, as the commandant was anxious to reach a record-setting latitude. On March 6, the Belgica became icebound. The crew did everything they could to prepare for a dark, below-freezing winter, but they were wracked with despair, suffering headaches, insomnia, dizziness, and later, madness—all vividly capture by Sancton. The sun returned on July 22, and by March 1899, they were able to escape the ice. With a cast of intriguing characters and drama galore, this history reads like fiction and will thrill fans of Endurance and In the Kingdom of Ice .

Pub Date: May 4, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-984824-33-2

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021

B&N Announces Its Favorite 2021 Books (So Far)

SEEN & HEARD

Discover Books Fiction Thriller & Suspense Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Biography & Memoir Teens & Young Adult Children's
News & Features Bestsellers Book Lists Profiles Perspectives Awards Seen & Heard Book to Screen Kirkus TV videos In the News
Kirkus Prize Winners & Finalists About the Kirkus Prize Kirkus Prize Judges
Magazine Current Issue All Issues Manage My Subscription Subscribe
Writers’ Center Hire a Professional Book Editor Get Your Book Reviewed Advertise Your Book Launch a Pro Connect Author Page Learn About The Book Industry
More Kirkus Diversity Collections Kirkus Pro Connect My Account/Login
About Kirkus History Our Team Contest FAQ Press Center Info For Publishers
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Reprints, Permission & Excerpting Policy

Popular in this Genre

Hey there, book lover.

We’re glad you found a book that interests you!

Please select an existing bookshelf

Create a new bookshelf.

We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!

Please sign up to continue.

It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!

Already have an account? Log in.

Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.

Almost there!

Industry Professional

Welcome Back!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

Don’t fret. We’ll find you.

Magazine Subscribers ( How to Find Your Reader Number )

If You’ve Purchased Author Services

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up.

Select your cookie preferences

We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie notice . We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements.

If you agree, we'll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie notice . Your choice applies to using first-party and third-party advertising cookies on this service. Cookies store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. The 96 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Click "Decline" to reject, or "Customise" to make more detailed advertising choices, or learn more. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences , as described in the Cookie notice. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy notice .

Literature & Fiction
Contemporary Fiction

Sorry, there was a problem.

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

The Aftermath Hardcover – 2 May 2013

The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook is a superbly controlled emotional thriller of passion, betrayal and conscience, set in post-War Germany.

'Masterly ... the story develops with many a deft twist ... Brook wrings every drop of feeling out of a gripping human situation, and his vignettes of war-ravaged Hamburg are superb' Mail on Sunday , Novel of the Week

'Rhidian Brook takes a piece of history I thought I knew well and breaks it open. The Aftermath is a compelling, surprising and moving novel' Sadie Jones, author of The Outcast 'A moving, always enthralling journey ... Rhidian Brook has written a brilliant novel' Joseph O'Neill, author of Netherland

Hamburg, 1946. Thousands remain displaced in what is now the British Occupied Zone. Charged with overseeing the rebuilding of this devastated city and the de-Nazification of its defeated people, Colonel Lewis Morgan has requisitioned a fine house on the banks of the Elbe, where he will be joined by his grieving wife Rachael and only remaining son Edmund.

But rather than force its owners, a German widower and his traumatised daughter, to leave their home, Lewis insists that the two families live together. In this charged and claustrophobic atmosphere all must confront their true selves as enmity and grief give way to passion and betrayal.

The Aftermath is a stunning novel about our fiercest loyalties, our deepest desires and the transforming power of forgiveness.

'Arresting, unsettling and compelling; suffused with suffering and hope' Claire Messud, author of The Emperor's Children

The Aftermath is being developed as a feature film by Ridley Scott's production company Scott Free and BBC Films.

Rhidian Brook is an award-winning writer of fiction, television drama and film. His first novel The Testimony of Taliesin Jones won several prizes including the Somerset Maugham Award. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including the Paris Review, New Statesman and Time Out, and have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. He is also a regular contributor to 'Thought For The Day' on the Today programme.

Print length 336 pages
Language English
Publisher Viking
Publication date 2 May 2013
Dimensions 16.2 x 3.1 x 24 cm
ISBN-10 0670921122
ISBN-13 978-0670921126
See all details

Product description

About the author, product details.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking (2 May 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0670921122
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0670921126
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16.2 x 3.1 x 24 cm
94,840 in Historical Fiction (Books)
136,221 in Contemporary Fiction (Books)
140,413 in Literary Fiction (Books)

About the author

Rhidian brook.

I started writing fiction in my mid-twenties. I was working as a copywriter in advertising when I was struck down with a post-viral condition. For two years I was unable to go back to work. I sat around, read a great deal and, when I had the energy, tried to write stories. A success in the 1991 Time Out short story competition gave me the confidence to write some more. Once well enough I returned to the day job but kept going with the stories and had a number published in various magazines including The New Statesman and Paris Review as well as broadcast on BBC Radio. During this time I started writing a novel that was eventually published as The Testimony Of Taliesin Jones. The novel won three prizes including the 1997 Somerset Maugham Award and, a couple of years later, was made into a film starring Jonathan Pryce. Buoyed by this I wrote a second novel, Jesus And The Adman, published in 1999, and began to have thoughts of giving up the day job to write fiction full time.

In 2002 I tried my hand at writing screenplays and in 2004 BBC Drama commissioned me to write a single film - Mr Harvey Lights A Candle - that was broadcast the following year and starred Timothy Spall. For the next two seasons I wrote for Silent Witness and was just settling down to the new day job when I was asked to write a book about the Aids pandemic for the Salvation Army. I agreed and ended up making a 9-month journey, with my wife and two children, to Africa, India and China. Whilst we travelled I did broadcasts for the BBC World Service and Radio 4's Thought For The Day - to which I had been a regular contributor since 2001. The book describing that journey - More Than Eyes Can See - was published in 2007. In 2009 I wrote a feature - Africa United - for Pathe which went on general release in October 2010.

A year later a story that was based on my grandfather's experiences in post war Germany was commissioned as a screenplay by Ridley Scott and BBC Film. I'd always wanted to write it as a novel so, whilst writing the screenplay, I started writing the book. After writing fifty pages I showed it to my agent and she managed to sell it to 23 publishers around the world. This was enough to allow me to write the rest of the novel: The Aftermath.

For more information on Rhidian Brook or The Aftermath, visit his website at www.rhidianbrook.com or like the Facebook fan-page - Rhidian Brook.

Customer reviews

5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 38% 38% 16% 4% 3% 38%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 38% 38% 16% 4% 3% 38%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 38% 38% 16% 4% 3% 16%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 38% 38% 16% 4% 3% 4%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 38% 38% 16% 4% 3% 3%

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings, help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Customers say

Customers find the story moving, ingenious, and honest. They describe the book as a great, fantastic, and important read. Readers praise the writing quality as brilliant, eye-opening, and well-told. They find the information very informative and well researched. Reader also mention the characters are believable and finely drawn. They appreciate the pacing, saying it grips their interest throughout.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the story moving, ingenious, and well-constructed. They say the plot combines excitement, passion, tragedy, and redemption. Readers also mention the book is a good history lesson with a bit of fiction thrown in.

"...Historically, I found it very interesting but something has stopped me giving it five stars - perhaps the fact that I found the storyline to be a..." Read more

"...It's a devastating insight into the aftermath of the terrible bombing raid launched upon this city. Hamburg was left in ruins...." Read more

"...The main point is that the book kept me enthralled in the story , and I look forward to the film version eagerly." Read more

"...A great evocation of the horror of the aftermath of war, not only on a city..." Read more

Customers find the book great, interesting, and a fantastic novel. They say the events make the story much more believable and enjoyable. Readers also describe the story as well-written and mentioning it's a real page-turner.

"...That said, an enjoyable read that is well written and researched, and I can understand why it has emotional appeal and has been made into a film." Read more

"...Nevertheless, the book and the film were outstanding !" Read more

"...Best of all, this book made me think ! I had never really considered how teenagers like Frieda would have felt...." Read more

"...for a fresh perspective on WWII and modern Germany history - a fantastic novel ." Read more

Customers find the writing quality brilliant, well-told, and eye-opening. They appreciate the interesting descriptions of post-war German life and scenery. Readers also mention the book is historically accurate and heartbreakingly honest.

"... This is a good writer , that's why I give three stars despite his lecturing, and he does lecture, but I'm not convinced I will be buying him again,..." Read more

"...seen through the eyes of the two families who share a gracious, beautiful house that exudes German high culture - books, music and tolerance - an..." Read more

"...The writing is beautiful and elegant ; you feel the cold of snow settling over frozen rubble, and the chill loneliness of a woman stripped of all her..." Read more

Customers find the book very informative, well-researched, and interesting. They say it sparks great discussions.

"...That said, an enjoyable read that is well written and researched , and I can understand why it has emotional appeal and has been made into a film." Read more

" This book has great potential . It certainly got plenty of hype and everyone sounds very pleased with themselves...." Read more

"...post war Germany with a unique and wise narrator's voice and a masterful and cinematic 360 degree perspective...." Read more

"...A fascinating book and a remarkable achievement . I think it ranks with The Reader as the best portrayal of Germany at that period." Read more

Customers find the characters believable, finely drawn, and great. They also say the book is an empathetic and moving portrayal of how individuals and a nation deal with defeat. Readers also mention the author is talented and has done his research.

"... Very empathetic and moving portrayal of how individuals and a nation deals with defeat. How do you salvage your soul from the ruins? -..." Read more

"...The Aftermath vividly resurrects post war Germany with a unique and wise narrator's voice and a masterful and cinematic 360 degree perspective...." Read more

"... All the characters are plausible , each has a role (and there are others apart from the Luberts and Morgans)...." Read more

"...The characters are multi-dimensional and believable ...." Read more

Customers find the pacing of the book very moving, intense, and vivid. They also say the characterisations are convincing, the atmosphere is exciting, and the personal and political landscape is beautifully described. Readers also mention the plotting is compelling and the setting is beautifully evoked.

"...with a lightness of touch and a seam of optimism which make for an up-lifting and thought-provoking book." Read more

"...work, beautifully written and constructed which grips our interest throughout ." Read more

"...to stutter a bit here and there, although the atmosphere and characterisations were mostly convincing ." Read more

"...-simplify, but depicts peoples' actions and feelings in a messy, realistic way ...." Read more

Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from United Kingdom

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

UK Modern Slavery Statement
Amazon Science
Sell on Amazon
Sell on Amazon Business
Sell on Amazon Handmade
Associates Programme
Fulfilment by Amazon
Seller Fulfilled Prime
Advertise Your Products
Independently Publish with Us
Host an Amazon Hub
› See More Make Money with Us
The Amazon Barclaycard
Credit Card
Amazon Money Store
Amazon Currency Converter
Payment Methods Help
Shop with Points
Top Up Your Account
Top Up Your Account in Store
COVID-19 and Amazon
Track Packages or View Orders
Delivery Rates & Policies
Returns & Replacements
Manage Your Content and Devices
Amazon Mobile App
Customer Service
Accessibility

Conditions of Use & Sale
Privacy Notice
Cookies Notice
Interest-Based Ads Notice

The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook

The Aftermath by
Buy The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook at or



About to be developed as a feature film this arresting, surprising and moving novel is set in the British Occupied Zone including Hamburg in 1946. It depicts the personal struggles as two families; one British and one German struggle to rebuild their lives and overcome the enmity and grief incurred during the War.
Yes	Yes
328
Penguin

978-0670921126
and

The Aftermath is set amongst the devastated ruins in the fire-bombed city of Hamburg in 1946. The British have occupied the ruined city and Colonel Lewis Morgan, an officer and a gentleman, is charged with overseeing the restoration of order. However, Colonel Morgan must first deal with the human cost of the bombing including remnants of fanatic Nazis, the trummerkind - children of the rubble, and the starving civil populace. He also, in 1943, lost a child due to a Luftwaffe bomb and he must support his deeply grieving wife, Rachel, when she arrives after months of separation with their surviving twelve year old boy, the impressionable Edmund.

The drama is intensified when Colonel Lewis has to requisition a splendid villa for his own use and allows the owner, Herr Lubert, a German architect and significantly, a widower, to remain in the house with his own surly, indoctrinated daughter, Freda. There is also a retinue of domestic staff somewhat resentfully having to deal with a new English lady directing their activities. Morgan's decisions look somewhat naïve but he feels he must set his men a positive example in forging the peace. Has he taken on the personal equivalent of 'A Bridge Too Far'?

The novel begins with a German youth wearing a British helmet as he claws his way through the pulverised city heaps. He is dressed in an assortment of clothes pilfered and purloined from both the invading and defeated forces. The boy weaves his way with his wild gang of friends, the ferals, through the fractured cityscape. His face is dirty, his limbs are numb with the cold and he is hungry to the point of collapse. He represents the incipient future of Germany and is seeking to destroy the beast of the Nazi past.

In more comfortable surroundings, Colonel Lewes is allocated a house towards the ancient fishing suburb of Blankenese in sight of the winding, partially frozen expanse of the lower Elbe, situated in the grand and historic avenue of the Elbchaussee. His junior aide describes it as, A bloody great palace by the river . Originally, this belonged to the family of the deceased wife of the current owner; they were prosperous people who ran a number of flour mills. Lubert, the Hamburg citizen to whom the villa now belongs, is mourning intensely for his lost wife and appears a civilised man, an architect of considerable imagination. However, he has not yet received his certificate of clearance. This is the so-called Persilschein, which must show him to be free of Nazi connections. Lubert has yet to supply his answers to the 133 questions of the Fragebogen before he can obtain clearance from the Control Commissions Intelligence Branch. Will he be categorised as Black, Grey or White? What about his unhappy daughter, indoctrinated as a Hitler Madel and exploring her developing sexuality by bitterly taunting the English boy, Edmund, when he arrives with his own distraught and emotionally unavailable mother.

The novel which Rhidian Brooks has written has three qualities to recommend it. Firstly it has a narrative with a cinematic pace to it, giving an irresistibly engaging insight into the troubled times immediately after the war. It is informative about events as various as the firestorm raids, the details of how officer's wives socialised and did their shopping which is compared with the shortages and rationing under the Attlee Government back in Britain. It is compelling too on the process of démontage by which German war industries and other factories were destroyed partly in accordance with agreements negotiated with Soviet forces. This was not to prevent the building of the Berlin Wall and the division of Germany which, as is pointed out, takes place shortly afterwards.

Secondly, beyond this engaging portrayal on the military and political level, Brook has written a novel which is emotionally intriguing, sometimes uncomfortably so as it deals with the betrayals and unforeseen effects of individuals trying to struggle with painful feelings of love and loss in a period of mistrust and change. This is an honest attempt to show sympathy for individuals caught up in a whirl of actions with unintended consequences. A world into which Brook, the author, has a personal insight; his own Grandfather had been involved in a very similar situation to that of Colonel Lewis and family.

Finally this well-constructed novel is interesting for the manner in which it reflects upon contemporary concerns. Some of these relate to the honourable Army officer. There is, for instance, some measure of Christopher Tiejens about Colonel Lewis Morgan from Maddox Ford's great novel recently adapted for television, Parade's End . There is also a renewed interest in the culpability of the enemy and also some of the rough justice meted out in the initial phase of the occupation - subject too of the currently intriguing film, Lore adapted from The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert. This novel raises the question of how a defeated country might be re-established and the deeper personal meaning of loyalty, forgiveness and restitution. As we continue to ask ourselves if we have maintained and protected that fair society on which security might be built since 1945, this thoughtful book makes a sincere contribution to an ongoing debate.

Many thanks to Penguin for supplying this interesting novel.

If this book appeals then you might also enjoy The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore and Trieste by Dasa Drndic and Ellen Elias-Bursac (translator) .

Like to comment on this review?

Just send us an email and we'll put the best up on the site.

Rhidian Brook
Reviewed by George Care
4.5 Star Reviews
Historical Fiction

Personal tools

Non-fiction
Children's books
New reviews
Recommendations
New features
Competitions
Forthcoming publications
Random review
Social networks
For authors and publishers
Self-publishing and indie authors
Copyright and privacy policy
Advertise with us
Reviewer vacancies

We Buy Books

What links here
Related changes
Special pages
Printable version
Permanent link
Page information
This page was last edited on 20 March 2018, at 15:00.
Privacy policy
About TheBookbag
Disclaimers
Mobile view

Business & Money
International

This item cannot be shipped to your selected delivery location. Please choose a different delivery location.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America

To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America Hardcover – January 24, 2023

Print length 416 pages
Language English
Publisher Viking
Publication date January 24, 2023
Dimensions 6.36 x 1.3 x 9.73 inches
ISBN-10 0593489691
ISBN-13 978-0593489697
See all details

From the Publisher

A popular Washington Post columnist takes a deep dive into what the end of the baby boom means...

Editorial Reviews

About the author, product details.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking (January 24, 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593489691
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593489697
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.6 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.36 x 1.3 x 9.73 inches
#122 in Demography Studies
#420 in International Economics (Books)
#3,594 in Political Ideologies & Doctrines (Books)

Videos for this product

Click to play video

Book Preview The Aftermath by Philip Bump 2023 Wealth Power

Cookbook Divas

About the author

Philip bump.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 46% 26% 17% 5% 5% 46%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 46% 26% 17% 5% 5% 26%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 46% 26% 17% 5% 5% 17%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 46% 26% 17% 5% 5% 5%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 46% 26% 17% 5% 5% 5%

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

Customers say

Customers find the book informative, interesting, and well-balanced with facts. They also describe it as a great, in-depth read that is gratifying and worthwhile.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book great, easy to read, and educational. They also say it's a must-read for all boomers.

"...Still, all said, very worthwhile ." Read more

"...However, I found it to be very satisfying as I developed an understanding of the data presentations and linked them into Bump's observations and..." Read more

"The downfall is beginning, this is a great book to read if you are thinking about how to reposition yourself and anticipate future change." Read more

"... Worth the time to read and understand what to expect in the coming decade.Steve" Read more

Customers find the book informative, interesting, and well-balanced with facts. They say it's revealing and a good sociological study. Readers also appreciate the graphs and the thoughtfully observed and clearly written synthesis of abundant data.

"...aren't my first choice for pleasure reads but this was fun and informative . I'd buy more but I already have two copies and I bought 3 for friends." Read more

"A thoughtfully observed and clearly written synthesis of abundant data (with excellenct charts/graphs) that explains how the baby boom shaped the..." Read more

"...those who are curious about "why things are the way they are" it is quite revealing . For those who like data it's chock full of info...." Read more

"The graphs are so informative and really add to the information in the narrative...." Read more

Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

About Amazon
Investor Relations
Amazon Devices
Amazon Science
Sell products on Amazon
Sell on Amazon Business
Sell apps on Amazon
Become an Affiliate
Advertise Your Products
Self-Publish with Us
Host an Amazon Hub
› See More Make Money with Us
Amazon Business Card
Shop with Points
Reload Your Balance
Amazon Currency Converter
Amazon and COVID-19
Your Account
Your Orders
Shipping Rates & Policies
Returns & Replacements
Manage Your Content and Devices

Conditions of Use
Privacy Notice
Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
Your Ads Privacy Choices

Book of the day Annihilation by Michel Houellebecq review – the failure of politics

Jacqueline Wilson ‘These books captured our hearts’: Jacqueline Wilson’s Girls series is back – and millennials are rejoicing

Health, mind and body books The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke review – a doctor’s remarkable account of an organ transplant

Fantasia Barrino as Celie and Taraji P Henson as Shug Avery in The Color Purple.

Five of the best Five of the best books about female friendship

Fiction What a Way to Go by Bella Mackie review – Succession-style satire

Health, mind and body books meditations for mortals by oliver burkeman – time to relax.

News 2024 Wainwright prizes are ‘heartwearming’ tribute to a new generation of nature writers

All stories

What to read

A goldfish pond with lilies made from the pages of books

Summer reading 50 new books to dive into

Summer reading beach books at the ready: authors pick their essential summer reads.

Composite image of best paperbacks February 2024

Paperbacks This month’s best paperbacks: Stephen King, Anne Michaels and more

100 best novels of all time From The Pilgrim's Progress to True History of the Kelly Gang

The 100 best books of the 21st century

Non-fiction reviews.

Nick Duerden with his border terrier, Missy.

Society books People Who Like Dogs Like People Who Like Dogs review – a touching tale of the canine-human community

Gillian Anderson lying on a lounger, laughing

Society books Want: Sexual Fantasies, edited by Gillian Anderson review – intriguing survey of desire

YUVAL NOAH HARARI DO NOT USE FOR SATURDAY AUG 24TH, 2024. NO OTHER USAGE UNTIL AFTER THAT DATE. Set Styling: Lee Flude, Grooming: Sadaf Ahmad yuval noah harari

Science and nature books Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari review – rage against the machine

Philosophy books The Happiness of Dogs by Mark Rowlands review – a masterclass in canine philosophy

Detail of Self-Portrait by Paul Gauguin, 1893.

Biography books Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin by Sue Prideaux review – savage with a sensitive side

Yuval Noah Harari has some worrying visions of the future.

Science and nature books Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari review – end of days?

Teenagers using mobile phones while seated in rows during an exam.

Society books Exam Nation by Sammy Wright review – an essential lesson for Britain’s grade-obsessed education system

Fiction & poetry reviews.

Fiction Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout review – when Olive Kitteridge met Lucy Barton

Fiction Elaine by Will Self review – an intense reimagining of the author’s mother’s life

Graphic novel of the month Final Cut by Charles Burns review – a book to be read and reread

Richard Osman Photographer: Jay Brooks Assistant: Caz Dyer Set Design: Sandy Suffield Assistant: Lucas Aliaga-Hurt Grooming: Pauline Simmons

Crime fiction We Solve Murders by Richard Osman review – his new crime-fighting team is another winner

Author Michel Houellebecq sits at a table, surrounded by journalists with cameras and microphones

Fiction Annihilation by Michel Houellebecq review – deepfakes, sex acts and cyber-attacks

Fiction Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd review – hugely enjoyable cold war espionage

Poetry roundup The best recent poetry – review roundup

Children's and ya books.

Children's book roundup Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels

Detail from Molly Knox Ostertag’s The Deep Dark.

Young adult books Young adult books roundup – reviews

Interview Elizabeth Strout: ‘All ordinary people are extraordinary’

Interview Pedro Almodóvar: ‘Life needs fiction to make it bearable’

Interview Novelist Rumaan Alam: ‘A lot of people have secret money – it can make you crazy with envy’

The Q&A Anne Enright: ‘When I was eight I wanted to be a boy, so that I could be anything I wanted’

Interview ‘Writing this book was like a drug high’: Rachel Kushner on her Booker-listed novel

Author Ferdia Lennon in his home city of Norwich. 8/8/24 Norwich, Norfolk

Interview Ferdia Lennon: ‘I was tired of Merchant Ivory accents’

Interview ‘I feel like when I’m 50 people will take me seriously’: novelists Eliza Clark and Julia Armfield in conversation

The books of my life Matt Haig: ‘I use Winnie-the-Pooh as a pencil sharpener for the mind’

Big idea The big idea: how the ‘protege effect’ can help you learn almost anything

Where to start with Where to start with: James Baldwin

You may have missed.

From left: Olga Tokarczuk, Rumaan Alam, Haruki Murakami, Sally Rooney, Fatma Aydemir plus their new books.

Autumn fiction special 2024 The best new novels for autumn 2024, from Sally Rooney to Jonathan Coe and Haruki Murakami

Interview roddy doyle: ‘people used to say i was undermining family life … ludicrous stuff’, extract alan hollinghurst: an exclusive extract from his new novel our evenings.

Feature Warhol idolised her, Thatcher copied her and Kingsley Amis had a deep fear of farting in her presence: but what was the Queen really like?

Feature Novelist Sarah Moss: ‘Hunger numbed my shame and humiliation’

Janet Frame From poverty, psychiatric hospital and writing in a shed to literary stardom: Janet Frame at 100

Most viewed, most viewed in books, most viewed across the guardian, annihilation by michel houellebecq review – the failure of politics, nexus by yuval noah harari review – end of days, rare and ornate 14th-century bible sells at auction for £5.3m, early version of lord of the flies with different beginning to go on display, ‘these books captured our hearts’: jacqueline wilson’s girls series is back – and millennials are rejoicing, here one moment by liane moriarty review – interesting premise, disappointing result, five of the best books about female friendship, hbo posts casting call for next-generation harry potter tv series, literary prize drops name of its sponsor from title after protests over israel arms link, meditations for mortals by oliver burkeman – time to relax, starmer tells putin russia started ukraine war and can end it any time, third of people in spain say local area has too many foreign tourists, ig nobel prize goes to team who found mammals can breathe through anuses, entire earth vibrated for nine days after climate-triggered mega-tsunami, live moscow accuses british diplomats of spying after putin says using western weapons in russia would mean war with nato – live, premier league: 10 things to look out for this weekend, britons struggle to name common fish, survey shows, jo whiley says lack of public discourse about perimenopause left her ‘really lost’, kamala harris was great in the debate. will that be enough to win, my wife’s drinking is way over guidelines but she never loses control. what do you suggest.

Science and nature books
Fiction in translation
Children and teenagers
Autobiography and memoir

ACCOUNT HOLDER

CARD EXPIRES

QUEENS LIBRARY CARD NUMBER

Empire's end : book three of the Aftermath trilogy

By Wendig, Chuck, author.

Genre Star wars fiction.

Audience Adults

Published [2017] by Del Rey, New York

ISBN 9781101966969

Bib Id 889237

Edition First edition.

Description 423 pages ; 25 cm.

Availability

More Details

Pickup Location

Also available as

Click here to see this title in other formats.

Call # FIC Wendig

Aftermath trilogy

header	Locations	header	header

Editorial Reviews

Suggestions for you.

The Hidden Girl by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker: Brimming with emotional intensity, fizzing with menace and intrigue – book review –

Long before the Me Too movement sparked the conviction and jailing of high-profile sex offenders like American film producer Harvey Weinstein in 2022, Riley was hatching a story about the menacing side of fame, toxic masculinity, and the ability of ruthless, powerful men to destroy the lives of vulnerable women.

The Hidden Girl – originally published as Hidden Beauty in 1993 under the name Lucinda Edmonds – was Riley’s second novel and written at the age of twenty-six, many years before she became the acclaimed author of her groundbreaking eight-book Seven Sisters series which gripped readers across the world.

Sign up to our daily newsletter

Thank you for signing up.

Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to Lancaster Guardian, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.

It had always been her intention to reintroduce Hidden Beauty to the world but she never had the opportunity so her (heroic!) son Harry Whittaker – co-author of the last Seven Sisters book, Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt – has once more stepped into the breach and reworked and reimagined this heartbreaking and hard-hitting lost treasure which transports us from the wilds of Yorkshire’s Bronte country in the 1970s and the glamorous catwalks of Milan to the horrors of the Treblinka extermination camp in wartime Poland.

And what a fine job he has made of it, ensuring that readers can enjoy and admire his mother’s story of stunning prescience and disturbing truths... a breathtaking, time-weaving standalone tale which is based on Riley’s own early life experiences as an actress and model, and shines a light on the dangerously controlling and sexually abusive behaviour of men in positions of immense power or wealth.

Born and raised in a small village on the Yorkshire moors, Leah Thompson looks more beautiful with each passing day. Her mother Doreen is housekeeper to 46-year-old Rose Delancey, a famous artist from a troubled family, now living far from the spotlight and keeping her past securely locked away.

Leah has grown up alongside Rose’s darkly mysterious and unsettling older son Miles, and her prematurely worldly and wayward adopted daughter Miranda, and by the time she is sixteen, Leah’s ethereal beauty has caught the attention of Rose’s long-lost nephew Brett Cooper, and friends from London’s high-profile modelling agencies.

Whisked off to the big city, where she finds comfort in new-found friendships and being able to send money home to her parents , Leah is soon taking the 1980s modelling world by storm, travelling from Milan to London and New York, and living life in the lap of luxury.

But Leah can’t escape the past which follows her like a dark shadow, a past that is mysteriously intertwined with the tragic tale of two young siblings in Poland caught up in the Holocaust during the Second World War.

As two generations of secrets threaten to erupt, Leah is also haunted by a fatal, forgotten prophecy... one that she had hoped would die away but which she must now fight if she is to challenge the destiny that was mapped out for her in the stars.

The Hidden Girl is an exciting posthumous gift from a writer who never ceases to amaze her readers as she once more transports us from the pedestrian realities of everyday life into a two-generational epic where good battles evil, friendships are formed, love awakens, and festering secrets have deadly consequences.

At its heart is Yorkshire lass Leah Thompson, an ordinary girl with an extraordinary beauty who discovers that her fateful association with the Delancey family might be the catalyst for her fame and fortune, but that it comes with a heavy personal price.

Leah’s rise from humble beginnings in rural Yorkshire to modelling super stardom and life in New York’s Fifth Avenue and other exclusive foreign enclaves is overshadowed by tragedy, thwarted love affairs, the deadly fall-out from vaulting ambition, and a fatal, forgotten prophecy that refuses to be banished.

Juxtaposed with Leah’s trials and tribulations in the vibrant post-war age are the privations and perils of staying alive in the ghettoes of wartime Warsaw and surviving the daily terrors of the notorious Treblinka camp where death was only ever a heartbeat away.

Brimming from start to finish with emotional intensity, and fizzing with menace and intrigue, The Hidden Girl explores the eternal themes of love, loss and redemption in a journey that is littered with twists and turns and revelations, and springs a wickedly unexpected sting in its tail.

And in her trademark style, Riley seamlessly weaves together the two timelines, investing readers’ interest in both past and present, delivering a plot of incredible intricacy and imagination, and thrilling us with a cast of unforgettable characters on a spectrum from the terrifyingly evil to the exquisitely vulnerable.

A treat for Lucinda’s army of fans... and a reminder of her exceptional talent.

(Macmillan, hardback, £22)

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

'The Siege' takes an in-depth look at the 1980 takeover of London's Iranian embassy

Copy the code below to embed the wbur audio player on your site.

The cover of "The Siege" and author Ben Macintyre. (Courtesy of Crown Publishing Group and Justine Stoddart)

Host Scott Tong speaks with "The Siege" author Ben Macintyre . The book tells the story of the six-day siege following the storming of the Iranian embassy in London by six gunman.

Book excerpt: 'The Siege'

By Ben Macintyre

16 Princes Gate

At 19:30, on Wednesday, April 30, 1980, a small, secret, and exceptionally well-equipped army rolled out of Bradbury Lines, the Special Air Service camp at Hereford.

Locals tended to be overly curious about the goings-on at the SAS camp, and so, to avoid attracting attention, the seven white Range Rovers departed at irregular intervals from the three exits, three men lying under blankets on the back seat, with two in the front. These were followed by two white Ford Transit vans and two large yellow furniture trucks.

This small convoy carried forty-five soldiers in civilian clothes, and enough weaponry to fight a medium-size war.

Each man had a green carryall packed with his personal weapons and gear: a submachine gun with four 30-round magazines, a 9mm automatic pistol with two 12-round magazines, a respirator, gloves, a balaclava helmet, body armor, boots, a belt, and a weapons-cleaning kit. In addition, each soldier had a prepacked long-stay bag with toiletries, sneakers, a tracksuit, and a sleeping bag. The vans carried extra ammunition, tear-gas launchers and canisters, stun grenades, frame charges, sawed-off pump-action shotguns, explosives, weapon-mount flashlights, food, water, radios, medical equipment, and spare weapons. The trucks contained the heavy gear: scaling ladders, ropes, and abseiling (rappelling) gear, lighting rigs, screens, thermal lances for cutting through metal, smoke machines, generators, and battering rams.

The SAS Special Projects team might have been setting out to repel the invasion of Britain—which, in a way, they were.

Shortly before 11:00 that morning, six young men had gathered beside the Albert Memorial, Queen Victoria’s ornate memorial to her late husband, opposite the Royal Albert Hall in London’s Kensington Gardens, west of Hyde Park. They were Middle Eastern, students or perhaps tourists, wearing smart new sneakers, clean hooded jackets, and backpacks. Around their necks each wore a keffiyeh, the traditional Arab cotton scarf with a red or black fishnet pattern. The PLO leader Yasser Arafat wore the keffiyeh, as did Westerners to signify sympathy for the Palestinian cause. The park was almost deserted on a weekday morning, with a handful of mothers wheeling strollers in the light rain and the occasional jogger. The men sat on the steps and listened intently as one of their number, a slim, wiry man in his late twenties with a goatee beard and thin mustache, spoke rapidly in Arabic.

At 11:12, the six men rose and picked up their bags. Then they split into two groups of three and headed for Princes Gate, a stuccoed terrace of large houses set back from Kensington Road, separated from the main thoroughfare by an eight-foot-high brick wall and a service road with parked cars. One group entered the road from the east, the other from the west. As they neared the door to Number 16, they wrapped the keffiyehs around their heads so that only their eyes showed. “Yalla,” said their leader. “Go!”

To say that Police Constable 469K, Trevor James Lock, was “guarding” the Iranian Embassy implies rather more focus and energy than the task demanded. Lock was an officer of the Diplomatic Protection Group, the Metropolitan Police unit responsible for security at the 138 foreign embassies and high commissions dotted around London. Most of these premises did not need protection. The DPG was largely diplomatic decoration, symbolizing Britain’s duty to safeguard foreign dignitaries. Lock’s primary function was to nod in a friendly but official manner to visitors and diplomats as they passed in and out of the building.

The job was one of the least stressful and most boring in British policing. This suited PC Lock just fine.

At forty-one, portly, patient, and placid, Lock was a far cry from The Sweeney, the popular 1970s TV show in which tough, gun-wielding cops screeched around London in fast cars apprehending villains. He was closer to Dixon of Dock Green, another policeman familiar to British television viewers, policing with common sense by standing around on street corners, being avuncular. Some join the police to fight crime and improve society; Lock became a policeman, as he put it, “to help old ladies across the road.”

Born into a working-class East London family, Lock had spent most of his life in the borough of Barking, where he knew every road (and almost every old lady). During National Service with the army, he volunteered for deployment to Tripoli, in the mistaken belief that it was in Italy. In Libya, he learned how to handle firearms, and how to swear in Arabic. After a stint in the Ford Dagenham factory, he joined the police at the age of twenty-six. Lock worked out of Barking Station, patrolling the world he had known since boyhood. He was part of the street furniture, as familiar and unchanging as the lampposts: everyone knew Trev. Lock’s first wife died in 1971, and he now lived in a council house with his second wife, Doreen, another native of Barking, and their six children, three from her first marriage and three from his. She was a devout Catholic. He worshipped West Ham United Football Club. He also believed in fair play, British cultural values (though he would be hard put to say what these were), and the police. Beneath his mild exterior, Lock was tougher than he seemed, or knew.

After fifteen years on the beat, in January 1980, Lock had requested a posting to the DPG, which was better paid: Trevor and Doreen were saving up for a holiday with the children on the Costa Brava. British police did not carry guns in 1980, but Diplomatic Protection officers were an exception. After three days of weapons training, Lock was issued with a Smith & Wesson .38 Regulation Police revolver, which fit into a leather holster on his belt. Lock was confident he would never have to fire it. “Police and guns don’t go together,” he said.

It was chilly and drizzling when Lock left his home in Dagenham that Wednesday morning, and Doreen insisted he dress warmly since he would be standing outside on the porch of the Iranian Embassy all day: he wore two pullovers and his police tunic, beneath a waterproof gabardine coat. It was Doreen’s birthday, and Lock had planned a night out in town. After work they would go shopping at Harrods for perfume, followed by a surprise treat: two tickets for Ipi Tombi, the hit musical playing at the London Astoria Theatre in the West End. Doreen liked surprises.

At 11:18, the Iranian doorman Abbas Fallahi popped his head around the front door and offered Lock a cup of coffee. According to police regulations, a DPG officer should not be seen eating or drinking while on duty, and Lock was not supposed to leave his post on the front step. Besides, Fallahi’s Persian-style coffee, strong, black, and sweet, was “a cup of yuk” in his opinion. But “to refuse might offend,” and so Lock slipped into the space between the oak outer door and the inner security door of glass and wrought iron, and accepted the steaming cup.

Abbas Fallahi had worked at the Iranian Embassy for nine years. His first job, fresh from Tehran, was driving the ambassador around London in a gleaming Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. His Excellency Parviz Radji represented the Shah of Iran, King of Kings, Light of the Aryans, and Sovereign of the Order of the Red Lion and the Sun. The ambassador lived a sumptuous life of parties and receptions, and he entertained lavishly at Princes Gate, where Fallahi doubled as a waiter, serving caviar and champagne.

The shah was then the West’s favorite Middle Eastern despot, modernizing, cooperative, and oil-rich. He was also haughty, luxury-loving, and autocratic. The CIA and Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6, had conspired to strengthen his rule in Iran by overthrowing the democratically elected government in 1953, when it threatened to nationalize the oil industry. The shah’s courtiers flattered and fawned over him, while many of his subjects loathed him; all opposition was suppressed with ruthless brutality by his secret police, the Bureau for Intelligence and State Security, known as SAVAK.

The embassy at 16 Princes Gate symbolized the shah’s wealth and power: a huge Victorian town house built in 1849, with fifty-six rooms, five stories, and a basement, in an Italianate row of eleven houses overlooking Hyde Park to the north. It had thick Persian carpets, molded ceilings, marble flooring, swagged curtains, polished banisters, and an air of lofty grandeur befitting the monarch of the Peacock Throne. Former residents of Princes Gate included Joseph Chamberlain and Field Marshal Douglas Haig. The neighbors were illustrious: John F. Kennedy had lived next door when his father was U.S. ambassador; the Ethiopian Embassy was on the other side, at Number 17.

In 1979, the shah was toppled by the Islamic Revolution, an event that took him, his Western allies, and most of the rest of the world by surprise. Iran’s proud monarch was forced into ignominious exile, and the secular Pahlavi imperial dynasty was replaced with an anti-Western, authoritarian, Islamist theocracy under the hardline cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini: a militant regime determined to spread Shia Islam across the Middle East and establish Iranian dominance.

Excerpted from "The Siege" by Ben Macintyre Copyright © 2024 by Ben Macintyre. Published in the United States by Crown, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

This segment aired on September 11, 2024.

More from Here & Now

Supported by

Pulling Back the Silicon Curtain

Yuval Noah Harari’s study of human communication may be anything but brief, but if you can make it to the second half, you’ll be both entertained and scared.

Share full article

The photograph portrays a gleaming disc, red, orange and yellow, held in white-gloved hands.

By Dennis Duncan

Dennis Duncan is the author of “Index, A History of the.”

Apple Books
Barnes and Noble
Books-A-Million
Bookshop.org

When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.

NEXUS: A Brief History of Information Networks From the Stone Age to AI , by Yuval Noah Harari

In the summer of 2022, a software engineer named Blake Lemoine was fired by Google after an interview with The Washington Post in which he claimed that LaMDA, the chatbot he had been working on, had achieved sentience.

A few months later, in March 2023, an open letter from the Future of Life Institute , signed by hundreds of technology leaders including Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk, called on A.I. labs to pause their research. Artificial intelligence, it claimed, posed “profound risks to society and humanity.”

The following month, Geoffrey Hinton, the “godfather of A.I.,” quit his post at Google, telling this newspaper that he regretted his life’s work. “It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things,” he warned.

Over the last few years we have become accustomed to hare-eyed messengers returning from A.I.’s frontiers with apocalyptic warnings. And yet, real action in the form of hard regulation has been little in evidence. Last year’s executive order on A.I. was, as one commentator put it , “directional and aspirational” — a shrewdly damning piece of faint praise.

Meanwhile, stock prices for the tech sector continue to soar while the industry mutters familiar platitudes: The benefits outweigh the risks; the genie is already out of the bottle; if we don’t do it, our enemies will.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

Want all of The Times? Subscribe .

IMAGES

The Aftermath Book Review Guardian : After The Fall By Ben Rhodes
The aftermath book
SMG4
The Aftermath (1982)
The Aftermath Book Review Guardian : After The Fall By Ben Rhodes
The Aftermath Review

VIDEO

Piggy The Aftermath [Book 2-Chapter 1- The Pizza Place
Последствия / The Aftermath (2019) Дублированный трейлер HD
Game 7 Aftermath. One Guardian rookie gets call-up. Another ends his season
Aftermath (2017) Movie Review
Sister.
PLAYING CHAPTER ONE (With Delight)!

COMMENTS

The Guardian
We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us.
How Germans Reconciled Themselves to Defeat After World War II
They contributed to a melting pot of hard-working people anxious to make their way. German soldiers who returned from the war, often after years in prison camps, added to the unfamiliarity ...
Rubble and Repression: An Intimate Look at Germany in the Decade After
A recent book by Volker Ullrich, "Eight Days in May," minutely chronicled what happened in the days between Hitler's suicide and the Wehrmacht's unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945 ...
Book Review: Harald Jahner's Fascinating and Depressing 'Aftermath'
Bernanke's self-regard came to mind while reading German journalist Harald Jahner's fascinating and obviously depressing 2022 book, Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955
The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook
3.65. 9,356 ratings1,115 reviews. Hamburg, 1946. Thousands remain displaced in what is now the British Occupied Zone. Charged with overseeing the rebuilding of this devastated city and the de-Nazification of its defeated people, Colonel Lewis Morgan is requisitioned a fine house on the banks of the Elbe, where he will be joined by his grieving ...
Review: 'The Aftermath,' by Rhidian Brook
Review: 'The Aftermath,' by Rhidian Brook. By Erika Dreifus. November 19, 2013 at 5:19 p.m. EST. "Today it is hard to form an even partly adequate idea of the extent of the devastation ...
AFTERMATH
An absorbing and well-documented history of postwar Germany. An illuminating study of the decade following the defeat of the Third Reich. In his engrossing first book, Jähner, the former editor of the Berlin Times, examines how and why Germany was capable of radically transforming from a sinister fascist mindset toward a modern democratic state.
The Aftermath
About The Aftermath. 1946, post-World War II Hamburg. While thousands wander the rubble, lost and homeless, Colonel Lewis Morgan, charged with overseeing the rebuilding of this devastated city and the denazification of its defeated people, is stationed in a grand house on the River Elbe. He is awaiting the arrival of his wife, Rachael—still ...
Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955
Aftermath is a nuanced panorama of a nation undergoing monumental change. 1945 to 1955 was a raw, wild decade poised between two eras that proved decisive for Germany's future - and one starkly different to how most of us imagine it today. Featuring black and white photographs and posters from post-war Germany - some beautiful, some revelatory ...
Amazon.com: The Aftermath: 9780307948571: Brook, Rhidian: Books
The Aftermath. Paperback - August 12, 2014. Set in post-war Germany, the international bestseller The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook is a stunning emotional thriller about our fiercest loyalties and our deepest desires. In the bitter winter of 1946, Rachael Morgan arrives with her only remaining son Edmund in the ruins of Hamburg.
Review: 'The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future
In his new book, "The Aftermath," which considers the socioeconomic and political impact of America's noisiest if no longer largest living generation, Bump measures the average coffin ...
Aftermath by Harald Jähner: 9780593313930
Germany 1945-55. Ten years of poverty, ruins, fear, violence, black markets, manic hard work, inventive sex—and always, always, silence about the murdered millions of the Third Reich. A fascinating read." —Neil MacGregor, author of. "Harald Jähner claims to have discovered a hole in the heart of modern German history.
The Aftermath: Amazon.co.uk: Brook, Rhidian: 9780670921126: Books
The Aftermath is being developed as a feature film by Ridley Scott's production company Scott Free and BBC Films. Rhidian Brook is an award-winning writer of fiction, television drama and film. His first novel The Testimony of Taliesin Jones won several prizes including the Somerset Maugham Award. His short stories have appeared in numerous ...
The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook
The Aftermath is set amongst the devastated ruins in the fire-bombed city of Hamburg in 1946. The British have occupied the ruined city and Colonel Lewis Morgan, an officer and a gentleman, is charged with overseeing the restoration of order. ... You can read more book reviews or buy The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook at Amazon.co.uk Amazon ...
The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook, review
The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook, review A story set among the ruins of post-war Germany fails to ignite, says John Preston. By John Preston 30 May 2013 • 7:00am
Aftermath
Transit Books — Aftermath. Usman Khan was convicted of terrorism-related offenses at age 20, and sent to high-security prison. He was released eight years later, and allowed to travel to London for one day, to attend an event marking the fifth anniversary of a prison education program he participated in. On November 29, 2019, he sat with ...
The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power
"A fascinating account of demographic change and future possibilities" — The Guardian "[A] highly detailed, data-driven, definitive story of how baby boomers changed America and a little forecasting of what might come next...Bump is a reliable, honest narrator who leans into complexity and refuses simple or singular explanations." --The Washington Post "Bump leaves no stone unturned ...
Books
Want by Gillian Anderson review - let me be your fantasy. Kitty Drake. Autobiography and memoir. The Boy from Baghdad: From Waziriyah to Westminster by Nadhim Zahawi review - an unlikely journey. Tim Adams. Politics books. Truss at 10 by Anthony Seldon review - the leader who made history for all the wrong reasons.
Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire
J T. 1 review. September 10, 2023. In Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire, Kojo Koram takes the long perspective on the accumulation of post- empire offshore assets and the often arcane process of how this was achieved, much of it surviving to this day.
Questioning Collapse
Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability, and the Aftermath of Empire is a 2009 non-fiction book compiled by editors Patricia A. McAnany and Norman Yoffee that features a series of eleven essays from fifteen authors discussing how societies have developed, evolved, and whether they have or have not collapsed throughout history, with a focus on how ancient and ...
'Aftermath,' by Rachel Cusk
The book was heavily promoted in England as "brutally honest," which meant many women really hated it. "On and on it went, back and forth," Cusk wrote later in a Guardian article about the ...
Empire's-end-:-book-three-of-the-Aftermath-trilogy
Empire's end : book three of the Aftermath trilogy Book. Empire's end : book three of the Aftermath trilogy . By Wendig, Chuck, author. (based on Goodreads ratings) Genre Star ... Editorial Reviews . Suggestions for you. You might also like. Read More. Facebook Icon Twitter Icon Instagram Icon. Footer menu. Books, Movies & More; CALENDAR; Research;
The Hidden Girl by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker: Brimming with
The Hidden Girl - originally published as Hidden Beauty in 1993 under the name Lucinda Edmonds - was Riley's second novel and written at the age of twenty-six, many years before she became the acclaimed author of her groundbreaking eight-book Seven Sisters series which gripped readers across the world.
'The Siege' takes an in-depth look at the 1980 takeover of ...
The book tells the story of the six-day siege following the storming of the Iranian embassy in London by six gunman. Book excerpt: 'The Siege' By Ben Macintyre. 16 Princes Gate.
Book Review: 'Nexus,' by Yuval Noah Harari
100 Best Books of the 21st Century: As voted on by 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.
Cobweb by Michael Morpurgo: 5-star review
Cobweb, a new novel by the War House author, follows a little dog heading to London amid the aftermath of Britain's triumph at Waterloo Emily Bearn 11 September 2024 • 3:15pm Related Topics

The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook – review

Comments (…)

More From Forbes

Best Travel Insurance Companies

LIFE IN THE FALLOUT OF THE THIRD REICH, 1945-1955

MADHOUSE AT THE END OF THE EARTH

Please select an existing bookshelf

Please sign up to continue.

Almost there!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

Select your cookie preferences

Sorry, there was a problem.

Image Unavailable

Follow the author

The Aftermath Hardcover – 2 May 2013

Product description

About the author

Customer reviews

Customers say

Top reviews from United Kingdom

Top reviews from other countries

The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook

Navigation menu

Personal tools

We Buy Books

Sorry, there was a problem.

Image Unavailable

Follow the author

The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America Hardcover – January 24, 2023

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Videos for this product

Book Preview The Aftermath by Philip Bump 2023 Wealth Power

About the author

Customer reviews

Customers say

Top reviews from the United States

Top reviews from other countries

Book of the day Annihilation by Michel Houellebecq review – the failure of politics

Jacqueline Wilson ‘These books captured our hearts’: Jacqueline Wilson’s Girls series is back – and millennials are rejoicing

Health, mind and body books The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke review – a doctor’s remarkable account of an organ transplant

Five of the best Five of the best books about female friendship

Fiction What a Way to Go by Bella Mackie review – Succession-style satire

News 2024 Wainwright prizes are ‘heartwearming’ tribute to a new generation of nature writers

What to read

Summer reading 50 new books to dive into

Paperbacks This month’s best paperbacks: Stephen King, Anne Michaels and more

100 best novels of all time From The Pilgrim's Progress to True History of the Kelly Gang

The 100 best books of the 21st century

Society books People Who Like Dogs Like People Who Like Dogs review – a touching tale of the canine-human community

Society books Want: Sexual Fantasies, edited by Gillian Anderson review – intriguing survey of desire

Science and nature books Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari review – rage against the machine

Philosophy books The Happiness of Dogs by Mark Rowlands review – a masterclass in canine philosophy

Biography books Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin by Sue Prideaux review – savage with a sensitive side

Science and nature books Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari review – end of days?

Society books Exam Nation by Sammy Wright review – an essential lesson for Britain’s grade-obsessed education system

Fiction Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout review – when Olive Kitteridge met Lucy Barton

Fiction Elaine by Will Self review – an intense reimagining of the author’s mother’s life

Graphic novel of the month Final Cut by Charles Burns review – a book to be read and reread

Crime fiction We Solve Murders by Richard Osman review – his new crime-fighting team is another winner

Fiction Annihilation by Michel Houellebecq review – deepfakes, sex acts and cyber-attacks

Fiction Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd review – hugely enjoyable cold war espionage

Poetry roundup The best recent poetry – review roundup

Children's book roundup Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels

Young adult books Young adult books roundup – reviews

Interview Elizabeth Strout: ‘All ordinary people are extraordinary’

Interview Pedro Almodóvar: ‘Life needs fiction to make it bearable’

Interview Novelist Rumaan Alam: ‘A lot of people have secret money – it can make you crazy with envy’

The Q&A Anne Enright: ‘When I was eight I wanted to be a boy, so that I could be anything I wanted’

Interview ‘Writing this book was like a drug high’: Rachel Kushner on her Booker-listed novel

Interview Ferdia Lennon: ‘I was tired of Merchant Ivory accents’

Interview ‘I feel like when I’m 50 people will take me seriously’: novelists Eliza Clark and Julia Armfield in conversation

The books of my life Matt Haig: ‘I use Winnie-the-Pooh as a pencil sharpener for the mind’

Big idea The big idea: how the ‘protege effect’ can help you learn almost anything

Where to start with Where to start with: James Baldwin

Autumn fiction special 2024 The best new novels for autumn 2024, from Sally Rooney to Jonathan Coe and Haruki Murakami

Feature Warhol idolised her, Thatcher copied her and Kingsley Amis had a deep fear of farting in her presence: but what was the Queen really like?

Feature Novelist Sarah Moss: ‘Hunger numbed my shame and humiliation’

Janet Frame From poverty, psychiatric hospital and writing in a shed to literary stardom: Janet Frame at 100

Availability