Postcards from No Man's Land

Rating:
Summary: A sophisticated, emotionally charged work for mature readers
Review: Winner of the Carnegie Medal--one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary prizes--Postcards from No Man's Land is a powerful tale of past and present, told through dual narratives. When 17-year-old Jacob Todd arrives in Holland to attend a ceremony commemorating the World War II Battle of Arnhem and to pay his respects to his dead grandfather, little does he know that his journey will bring him new ideas about love, life, death, and art; friendships with young people who cross gender lines; discoveries of his own identity and sexuality; and a shocking truth kept secret for 50 years and revealed in a diary written specifically for him by Geertrui Van Riet, the now ailing woman who had taken care of his grandfather during the war and, unbeknownst to her family and his, shared with him a passionate but short-lived love affair. Philosophical, comic, painful, emotional, heart-warming, and sensual, the novel is written with exquisite detail--perhaps a little too much detail at times--and a sophistication rarely seen in American novels for teens. The setting of Amsterdam, a city both modern and old, is a perfect reflection of the parallel narratives. The characters are likable and admirable yet realistic, and demonstrate strength and open-mindedness as they attempt to work through personal conflicts and difficulties, many of which are never resolved--an aspect of the novel which may dissatisfy some readers. Not to be regarded as just a work of historical fiction, the novel's treatments of the universal young adult themes of first love, independence, and friendship demonstrate careful thought and originality. Already translated into eleven languages, the novel will surely maintain its resonance among generations of readers to come.