---
product_id: 11038985
title: "Restless: A Novel"
brand: "william boyd"
price: "AR$71667"
currency: ARS
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.com.ar/products/11038985-restless-a-novel
store_origin: AR
region: Argentina
---

# Restless: A Novel

**Brand:** william boyd
**Price:** AR$71667
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Restless: A Novel by william boyd
- **How much does it cost?** AR$71667 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.ar](https://www.desertcart.com.ar/products/11038985-restless-a-novel)

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- william boyd enthusiasts

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- Trusted william boyd brand quality
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## Description

Full description not available

## Images

![Restless: A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41v3tfnKVsL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Powerful work
  

*by C***H on Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2023*

Compelling story about a woman swept up into becoming a spy to help England succeed in WWII only to be betrayed by the head of the unit who was a double agent.  Convincing and exciting story of her wit and intelligence in defeating a leader who underrated her intelligence because of her sex. Great read.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Terrific writing - interesting, engaging spy novel
  

*by M***S on Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2012*

I think I purchased this kindle ebook for $3.99 or less and had never heard of this author.  I was attracted by the book description, number of highly positive reader reviews, leading me to  read a sample before making my purchase.I was surprised (and pleased) by the quality of the writing, the building suspense, the well-drawn characters and the careful description of the time and place in which it was set.  I knew only a little about the role that novice and career British agents played in both Europe and, especially, in the U.S., as the British tried to get America into World War II.  This was not a popular position in the U.S. at the time.  Neither the American people nor the government wanted to be involved in a foreign war.  England desperately wanted and needed America to be fighting in Europe (and north Africa) against the Germans.  A large segment of the American population was pro-Germany and/or isolationist.  British agents were secretly embedded in the U.S. to feed the American media stories purportedly demonstrating the German's secret, allegedly planned attacks on the U.S - in the U.S. - and in the Atlantic.The reader is drawn into the dangerous and high stakes game the British are playing, without leaving their fingerprints on the effort.At the same time, we see the relationship between a recently recruited and hurriedly trained female agent, her professional and personal relationship with the group's spy master, as well as with her fellow British agents.  We follow her on some of her assignments.  The scope of the British operation in the U.S. was bigger than anything I'd ever read about and the agents' fear of discovery was palpable.  Europe needed the strength of U.S. assets and active involvement to win the war.The structure of the novel is alternating chapters from two perspectives: that  of a mother - the newly recruited, female British agent in her role as a spy in the U.S. during the WWII, and in her present life, living quietly and anonymously in rural England, and the life of her daughter - a single mother with her son, a small child, living  nearby in a small town nearby English countryside, as she supports herself by teaching English to non-English speaking business men.  For most of the book, it is unclear why she is a major character in the story.  She knows nothing about her mother's past, certainly nothing about her experience as a spy in WWII.The book held my attention and piqued my interest in why the daughter was a main character.  It turns out she's a player in bringing about the resolution of the story.  The timeline and structure of the book brings mother and daughter together for the denouement, in the present.  And, this is where, there is the only flaw from my point of view:  a revelation at the very end of the book, for which, I felt, the reader is unprepared and which doen't ring true or contribute to the story in and way that I could see.  I was unprepared for it and it seemed awkward and forced to me . . . the only false note in a wonderfully structured and written novel.  As I said, this was the ONLY flaw or quibble I had with this book.When I finished reading, I searched amazon for other books by this author (previously unknown to me) and found a slew of spy novels, dating back 2 decades or more, nearly all of which were book award and/or prize winners.  No wonder the writing was so good!  I'm crossing my fingers that some of those novels will show up in the "FREE" or "books for $3.99 or less" categories.  (hint, hint!)

### ⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Great story with annoying flaws
  

*by B***N on Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2011*

Dear Steven,Thanks for recommending Restless.  I did find it compelling storytelling and will recommend it.Nevertheless, I ended up feeling annoyed with the author for a number of really pointless and avoidable flaws and literary pretensions.  If I didn't like it so much, the flaws would not annoy me so.So I'll refrain from summarizing the good aspects of the book (which I'm sure you see) and get the ennui off my chest.The book has or course 2 parallel stories alternating by chapter: First of a daughter in the 1970's alternating with a story of her mother beginning in the 1939.  The book begins with a male author (Boyd) telling the story of daughter in the first person.  Her elderly mother hands her secret memoir (of her life as a spy) to the daughter at the end of the first chapter.  The second chapter begins with the telling of the story in the memoir.  Although the memoir is presumably written by the mother in the first person, the chapters telling her story are instead told by the Boyd in the third person. Why?The Daughter chapters all have titles presumably indicative of their content.  (But they aren't: Often they instead refer to something mentioned only in the last paragraph of the chapter.)  The Mother chapters all have the same unhelpful title: "The Story of Eva Delectorskaya".Although the switching back and forth in time at the end of each chapter goes smoothly enough, Boyd also insists on playing pointless time games within the chapters:  Several chapters start in the middle and then track back to explain what happened since the end of the chapter 2 chapters ago.***SPOILER ALERT***Overall the Mother's story is the heart of the book.  The Daughter's story does serve the important role of driving home the theme of how little we may know the people closest to us.  But beyond that the daughter's story is littered with irrelevant subplots (her nasty room mates who might be terrorists, the student who might be an Iranian revolutionary who wants to marry her) which the reader expects might be relevant to the overall novel but turn out to be pointless and gratuitous distractions.What amazes about the mother is how careful and thorough she has been trained to be.  She has kept herself hidden away and incognito for 30 years to avoid being tracked down and killed.  But now she does something completely out of character: She wants to find her nemesis.  She could do it herself.  But no.  For no conceivable reason, she involves her daughter in the hunt, using her real name, needlessly endangering the daughter's life and perhaps the life of her young son.  There is no reason for this other than the author's need perhaps to somehow tie the two stories together at the end.Lastly, the villain also does something completely out of character:  Does his devious mind try to find a way to eliminate his enemies (the mother, daughter, the history professor) as he has done successfully so many times before?  No. He obligingly commits suicide. Huh?All fiction requires the reader to suspend disbelief.  All fiction authors have to make thousands of choices from an infinite set of possibilities.  Great authors tell their stories so smoothly that they appear to be true.  The stories "have to" unfold the way they do because that's what "happened".  The authors hide their arbitrary choices so skillfully that the story "rings true".  But if they don't hide their choices well (or they shove them in my face to show me how clever they are), I waste too much time thinking: "Why is the author doing this??.  Then I get annoyed.Barry Milliken

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*Product available on Desertcart Argentina*
*Store origin: AR*
*Last updated: 2026-02-22*