Cold War Conversations Podcast's Reviews > A Country Road, A Tree

Vibrant imagining of Samuel Beckett’s life in France during World War 2

Jo Baker has created a vivid and poetic fictional account of Beckett’s life in Paris and on the run from the Gestapo in France during World War 2. The story revolves around Beckett’s relationship with his girlfriend Suzanne and attempts to explain the complexity of the man and how his World War 2 experiences affected his later works.

The style takes a little getting used to, however after a slow start the book becomes addictive with its flowing and immensely image laden prose. I’ve never read any Beckett, but I have seen “Waiting for Godot” and you can see clever allusions to this in the book.

It’s made me want to investigate Beckett’s works further and look at Jo Baker’s too.

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.