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Waiting for Sunrise
By William Boyd
Harper/HarperCollins, 2011
[In Vienna, Actor Lysander Rief] enjoys trysts with the volatile Hettie, an English sculptor, until one day, to his astonishment, he is arrested on rape charges; Hettie has betrayed him to her menacing common-law husband. Military attachés at the British embassy bail him out, sheltering him and devising his escape. The actor improvises a disguise to leave Vienna which so impresses the attachés that a year later, now the Great War has begun, they recruit him to track down a high-placed traitor in the British war machine. . . Kirkus Review
Lysander must now discover the key to a secret code which is threatening Britain’s safety, and use all his skills to keep the murky world of suspicion and betrayal from invading every corner of his life. . . Moving from Vienna to London’s west end, the battlefields of France and hotel rooms in Geneva, Waiting for Sunrise is a feverish and mesmerising journey into the human psyche, a beautifully observed portrait of wartime Europe, a plot-twisting thriller. . . Goodreads
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| A Zeppelin Raid on London Is a Key Episode in the Book |
Boyd show[s] a marked gift for getting and holding a reader’s attention — particularly a reader intrigued by his unmistakable respect for, and admiration of, the female sex. . . Reading this beguiling, suspenseful book, I began thinking of another memorable spy novel, written by John Buchan back in 1915 — “The Thirty-Nine Steps,” which was indelibly brought to the screen by Alfred Hitchcock. The loosening of social mores over the intervening century has granted Boyd the liberty of injecting more overt sexuality into the clinches than Buchan could have respectably permitted Richard Hannay . . . NY Times
Waiting for Sunrise is a thriller, with all manner of suspicious occurrences and characters, with Lysander never sure whom or what to trust or believe; few tell him the whole truth, and many tell him outright lies — but he gets caught up in this game as well. . . Along the way, Lysander frequently resorts to disguises and role-playing; at one point he notes:
I felt envious, experiencing a sudden urge to rejoin my old life, to be back on the stage, acting, pretending. Then it struck me that this was precisely what I was about to do. . .
Along the way, Lysander frequently resorts to disguises and role-playing; at one point he notes: "I felt envious, experiencing a sudden urge to rejoin my old life, to be back on the stage, acting, pretending. Then it struck me that this was precisely what I was about to do." . . . The Complete Review
Waiting for Sunrise has a blend of genres such as historical contexts, the human psyche, and reflections on the morality of war. Boyd raises questions on loyalty, truth, and sacrifice during conflict. Therefore, as one delves more profoundly into the novel, one can explore themes such as identity, morality, and historical impact.
ReplyDeleteThere were no females involved in Buchan's 39 Steps. The film is quite different to the book.
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