Restless

By: William Boyd

Narrated by: Rosamund Pike

Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

"I am Eva Delectorskaya," Sally Gilmartin announces, and so on a warm summer afternoon in 1976 her daughter, Ruth, learns that everything she ever knew about her mother was a carefully constructed lie. Sally Gilmartin is a respectable English widow living in picturesque Cotswold village; Eva Delectorskaya was a rigorously trained World War II spy, a woman who carried fake passports and retreated to secret safe houses, a woman taught to lie and deceive, and above all, to never trust anyone.

Three decades later the secrets of Sally's past still haunt her. Someone is trying to kill her and at last she has decided to trust Ruth with her story. Ruth, meanwhile, is struggling to make sense of her own life as a young single mother with an unfinished graduate degree and escalating dependence on alcohol. She is drawn deeper and deeper into the astonishing events of her mother's past—the mysterious death of Eva's beloved brother, her work in New York City manipulating the press in order to shift public sentiment toward American involvement in the war, her dangerous romantic entanglement. Now Sally wants to find the man who recruited her for the secret service, and she needs Ruth's help. William Boyd's Restless is a brilliant espionage audiobook and a vivid portrait of the life of a female spy. Full of tension and drama, and based on a remarkable chapter of Anglo-American history, this is listening at its finest.

©2006 William Boyd (P)2006 Audio Renaissance, a divison of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Finalist, Fiction, Unabridged, 2007

"This fascinating story is well told." (Publishers Weekly)
"[An] espionage thriller and domestic drama by one of the very best prose stylists and storytellers in the English language." (Atlantic Monthly)

Hang in there

I almost bailed on this about halfway through. I recognized the writer’s craft and appreciated the story but it just wasn’t sparking. It wasn’t capturing me and I couldn’t see it changing. But it picks up and is worthwhile. 👍

Lovely listen

I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the characters in the story.
I felt it was well written because I remained anxious to know what was next to happen.

Boy, can he write.

I was engaged throughout. He writes women very well. It's a transporting book - another time, another place. (Knowing a little history helped.) I will likely read his oeuvre.

They don't get much better than this.

What secrets do we hold in our hearts? What bitterness and anger do we nurse, anticipating if not revenge, then at least resolution?
When Eva reveals her past as a British spy to her incredulous daughter Ruth, a door is opened into the lives of two formidable women. This novel is three stories, Eva’s story as wartime spy, Ruth’s story as a single mother in 1970’s Britain and finally the story of both woman united by the secret that has kept them apart.
Genre transcending, this story takes us on an absorbing journey through the early years of WW2, from Europe to Britain to the U.S.A to Canada and back to London. It is an exploration of the art of spy-craft, manipulation and deceit. It is insightful study of two young woman, both strong and intelligent, struggling to make a place for themselves in a world from which they are both slightly dislocated.
There is action, intrigue, romance; a clich? free plot and finally an unexpected and satisfying resolution for all concerned. The narration is outstanding, the story is well constructed, the plot ripples and the characters are deeply absorbing. A very worthwhile and highly recommended audio experience.

What it is like to live as a spy

There is an almost haunting quality to the narration and tone of the book that indicate the level of emotional detachment required to be ready to kill or do things or do seemingly innocuous things that could get her killed. Well, read, well written, and the tone / theme of the books sticks with me months later.

Excellent Spy story

The Narrator was excellent and the story was so interesting. it is about a woman and her mother. The woman finds out that her mother was a spy during the early years of World War II in England. Told from the point of view of both the daughter and the mother during her spy years in the form of a recently written memoir. As the daughter learns more and more about the woman she calls her mother but really has never known, she begins to look for adventure in her own life. Finally she decides to help her mother get back at the person who tried to kill her and forced her underground. I was immediatly drawn into the story and couldn't wait to listen to my ipod whenever I got in the car.

Loads of fun, plenty of twists

Mr. Boyd is a talented writer, no formulaic mystery boilerplate here. Rosamund Pike is great. The story is fun and I was sorry for it to end. So far, just this one audiobook by the author and narator. More, please!

Thoughtful intrigue, fascinating twists

The voice was wonderful and put a real personality with each of the various characters with all of their accents. The book immediately caught me and made me wonder what it might be like to be a spy at that time in history. The author slowly, almost without a notice, runs parallel the life of his main two characters. I really enjoyed the book and recommend it.

Boyd does it again

If you have read William Boyd's novels you know you can relax and be taken away by the exceptional writing, the humor and the commentary artfully presented throughout the story.
Restless is a novel you won't soon forget--if ever. Rosamund Pike is brilliant--really felt there were a cast of characters beyond one narrator. What is it about? A love story, a story of betrayal and intrigue. Restless--the state of not feeling at peace, always moving, either through one's thoughts or random or purposeful activities. The path we are all on with love, lonliness, and betrayals along the way. I am going to buy this book and add to my William Boyd library.

interesting story... kind of fun

This was a good story worth listening to. Not the best ever... but well written & interesting. It moves back and forth from the history of WWII and present day with ease. Good story. Recommended.