Restless (novel)

2006 novel written by William Boyd

Restless

First edition

Author| William Boyd
Language| English
Genre| Spy novel
Publisher| Bloomsbury

Publication date

| 2006
Publication place| United Kingdom
Media type| Print (hardback and paperback)
ISBN| 1-59691-236-7
OCLC| 64289453

Dewey Decimal

| 823/.914 22
LC Class| PR6052.O9192 R47 2006
Preceded by| Any Human Heart (2002)
Followed by| Ordinary Thunderstorms (2009)

Restless is an espionage novel written by William Boyd, published in 2006. It won the Costa Prize for fiction.[1]

The novel depicts the tale of a young woman who discovers that her mother was recruited as a spy during World War II. The book continually switches between time periods and, in doing so, from first to third person.

According to the author, it is one of the first novels to deal with the British Security Coordination service in New York. The book gained general public interest when it was chosen for inclusion in 'Book Club 2007', on the UK television show Richard & Judy.[2] It is the first Boyd novel to heavily feature  espionage, others include; Waiting for Sunrise (2012),  Solo (2013) his James Bond continuation novel and Gabriel's Moon (2024).

## Plot summary

[edit]

Eva, a young Russian woman, is recruited after her brother's death to work for the British secret service. During this time she falls for her mentor and boss, Lucas Romer. But all is not as it seems as Romer is working as a double agent which ultimately leads to the attempted murder of Eva, alongside the deaths of other agents.

The tale is interlinked with the story of Eva's daughter in the 1970s and how she comes to terms with the discovery of her mother's secret life. The setting of the novel is London, Oxford, Scotland, continental Europe, and the United States.

## Reception

[edit]

Marianne MacDonald, for The Observer, said that Boyd's novel was "a good, rollicking read...Restless pulls you deep into the obscure, forgotten intricacies of wartime espionage, in particular the covert operations run by the British in America before Pearl Harbor".[3]

David Mattin, reviewing Restless for The Independent, described the book's ending as "both page-turning and deft, leaving us with a moving feeling that it is our histories, and our ever-changing, private interpretations of them, that render us ultimately unknowable. Restless is that rare thing: a spy thriller from a first-rate narrative intelligence."[4]

## Adaptation

[edit]

In December 2012 the BBC aired a two-part TV adaptation based on the novel.[5] It was produced by Hilary Bevan Jones, directed by Edward Hall and featured Hayley Atwell, Rufus Sewell, Michelle Dockery, Michael Gambon and Charlotte Rampling.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Clements, Toby (3 September 2006). "A writer's life: William Boyd". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 23 May 2007.[dead link]
2. ^ Jury, Louise (5 January 2007). "Richard and Judy select Britain's next best-sellers". The Independent. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
3. ^ MacDonald, Marianne (3 September 2006). "When Mateus Rose was sexy". The Observer. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
4. ^ Mattin, David (1 April 2009). "Restless by William Boyd". The Independent. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
5. ^ Fox, Chloe (22 December 2016). "On the set of William Boyd's Restless". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 April 2020.

## Source

[edit]

* Boyd, William. Restless, Bloomsbury, 2006, ISBN 978-0-7475-8620-3

## External links

[edit]

* Boyd, William (23 September 2006). "Old-school spy". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 May 2007.
* Boyd, William (19 August 2006). "The secret persuaders". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 May 2007.
* William Boyd, winner of the 2006 Costa Novel Award, talks about his book, Restless.[1] Costa Book Awards. 19 February 2007. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
* William Boyd reading a section from Restless (video) [2], Bloomsbury. 30 May 2008. Retrieved 10 April 2020.

* v
* t
* e

Works by William Boyd

Novels|

* A Good Man in Africa (1981)
* An Ice-Cream War (1982)
* Stars and Bars (1984)
* The New Confessions (1987)
* Brazzaville Beach (1990)
* The Blue Afternoon (1993)
* Armadillo (1998)
* Nat Tate (1998)
* Any Human Heart (2002)
* Restless (2006)
* Ordinary Thunderstorms (2009)
* Waiting for Sunrise (2012)
* Solo (2013)
* Sweet Caress (2015)
* Love Is Blind (2018)
* Trio (2020)
* The Romantic (2022)
* Gabriel's Moon (2024)

Short story collections|

* On the Yankee Station (1981)
* The Destiny of Nathalie 'X' (1995)
* Fascination (2004)
* The Dream Lover (2008)
* The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth (2017)

Screenplays|

* Good and Bad at Games (1983)
* Dutch Girls (1985)
* Scoop (1987)
* Stars and Bars (1988)
* Mister Johnson (1990)
* Tune in Tomorrow (1990)
* Chaplin (1992)
* A Good Man in Africa (1994)
* The Trench (1999)
* Sword of Honour (2001)
* Armadillo (2001)
* A Waste of Shame (2005)
* Man to Man (2005)
* Any Human Heart (2010)
* Restless (2012)

Plays|

* Longing (2013)
* The Argument (2016)

Non-fiction|

* Protobiography (1998)
* Bamboo (2005)

*[OCLC]: Online Computer Library Center number
*[LC Class]: Library of Congress Classification
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template