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A Lily of the Field [Paperback]

John Lawton
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Book Description

12 April 2012
'Observe in what an original world we are now living: how many men can you find in Europe who have never killed; or whom somebody does not wish to kill?'
Vienna, 1934. Ten-year-old cello prodigy Meret Voytek becomes a pupil of concert pianist Viktor Rosen, a Jew in exile from Germany.
The Isle of Man, 1940. An interned Hungarian physicist is recruited for the Manhattan Project in Los Alomos, building the atom bomb for the Americans.
Auschwitz, 1944. Meret is imprisoned but is saved from certain death to play the cello in the camp orchestra. She is playing for her life.
London, 1948. Viktor Rosen wants to relinquish his Communist Party membership after thirty years. His comrade and friend reminds him that he committed for life...
These seemingly unconnected strands all collide forcefully with a brazen murder on a London Underground platform, revealing an intricate web of secrecy and deception.
The ensuing events have personal significance for Scotland Yard Detective Frederick Troy. He finds himself pursuing a case with deadly and far-reaching consequences that ultimately threaten the balance of power in Europe.
Moving seamlessly from Vienna and Auschwitz to the deserts of New Mexico and the rubble-strewn streets of London, A Lily of the Field is a fast-paced, thrilling addition for fans of the series and a captivating introduction for new readers of Lawton's work.

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Product details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press (12 April 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1611855918
  • ISBN-13: 978-1611855913
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 269,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

Praise for John Lawton: 'John Lawton finds himself in the same boat as the late Patrick O'Brian - a sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack but overlooked by too many readers for too long.' Daily Telegraph 'Admirable, ambitious and haunting, this is the sort of thriller that defies categorisation. I look forward with enthusiasm to the next one.' Spectator 'John Lawton's books contain such a wealth of period detail, character description and background information that they are lifted out of any category. Every word is enriched by the author's sophistication and irreverent intelligence, by his meticulous research and his wit.' Literary Review

About the Author

John Lawton is the director of over forty television programs, author of a dozen screenplays, several children's books and seven Inspector Troy novels. Lawton's work has earned him comparisons to John le Carré and Alan Furst. Lawton lives in a remote hilltop village in Derbyshire.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Modern History? 30 Oct 2010
By Longey
Format:Hardcover
'Lily of the Field' is the 7th or 8th novel by John Lawton in the 'Troy' series. Beautifully written, it takes you from Vienna prewar, and the times of the Chrystalnaght, to the late 40's and the cold war. Characters from his other books cleverley interweave with the new, with the activities Troy the detective in the Mets Murder squad and delightful snapshots of his family.

An excellent story, well worth a read; as well as being a facinating reminder of the trials of modern times - it is a must for those who have an interest in modern history.
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28 of 31 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Two novels in one... 3 Oct 2010
By Jill Meyer TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
"A Lily of the Field" is the first John Lawton book I've read. In fact, despite being a prolific reader of British WW1 and WW2 era mysteries, I had never heard of him or his books. The problem with stepping into a series in mid-stream, as I have done here, is that I feel I am not as knowledgeable about Lawton's on-going characters as I would have been had I read his backlist.

"Lily" starts out as an espionage story and changes midway through to a police procedural. Not that, in theory, there's anything wrong with writing like that, but it does rather change the pace and some questions and characters introduced in the first part of the book are not answered in the second. It feels somewhat "incomplete". The story(ies) are both quite good and Lawton gives an excellent description of post-war London and Paris, as well as pre-war Vienna, and war-time Los Alamos and New York, and Auchwitz. I just couldn't stop thinking, as I finished this book, that there was a lot left out that should have been included, in terms of plot and characters.

I have ordered several of Lawton's backlist of his Inspector Troy series so I have some idea of the Troy family and their position in London society and the back story of some of the other characters in "A Lily of the Field". As a stand-alone novel, as I read it, I thought it was a four-star effort. Maybe, after reading some of Lawton's previous work, and seeing where "Lily" fits in, I'll come back and change this to a five-star rating.

I did enjoy this book, though, and can heartily recommend it.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining WWII era mystery 17 Oct 2011
By Blue in Washington TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
All of us have authors (mostly writers of fiction) that we connect with, no matter the subject. John Lawton is one of those guys for me. There is something about how he evokes a sense of place, develops his characters, paces his stories and "period hops" that appeals to me pretty much through his entire literary output, and certainly when talking about the very excellent Inspector Freddie Troy series. "A Lily of the Field" is another John Lawton winner, in my opinion.

While this excellent new Inspector Troy murder/espionage novel stands very well on its own, it is something of a sequel to the last book in the series, "Second Violin". Both books focus, to a large degree, on the political and intellectual refugees who fled Austria to Britain in the 1930s (and after) and how they were treated at the hands of a very nervous British wartime government. An important sub-story here is an insightful look at the Holocaust and the treacherous and destructive way it operated in Austria and other countries. Like the other eight Troy stories, "A Lily..." is an intelligent mix of politics, culture and police procedural that spans places and periods from 1934 Vienna to 1948 London. Driving events are the Nazis moving toward domination of Europe and extermination of European Jewry and the expansion of the Soviet Union's efforts to carve out a protected and privileged position for communism in Europe and elsewhere. The characters in this novel are a mix of Lawton's regular subjects (the Troy family, old paramour, Larissa Tosca, the regulars of the London Police Force, etc. AND fictionalized versions of well-known musicians and scientists of the period. I suspect the extensive focus on music and musicians that is peculiar to this book reflects the author's own interest in classical and jazz forms. Whatever the reason, the references give the storyline added interest (in my opinion).

This is an intelligent novel with a lot of bells and whistles to hold the reader's attention, and it has a satisfying conclusion with the promise of more to come. Couldn't ask for more. Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Earlier Adventures Of The Troy Clan
Like Second Violin this is set pre-WW2 and puts more flesh on the Troy family back story. Like all the Troy novels it's very evocative of the time. Read more
Published 2 months ago by M. Green
3.0 out of 5 stars Not outstanding in its field
I did not realise until well into this book that it was part of a series, but the main character of Inspector Troy was not someone who I found intriguing enough to read another... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mark Ramsay
5.0 out of 5 stars A welcome addition to the series
Beautifully written, John Lawton is a master of prose. The strength of the novel is in the characterisation - if you want a simple plot driven whodunnit this probably isn't for... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. Richard A. Drew
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent thriller - already ordered another book by this author!
This is the first John Lawton I have read and despite this being being several books into the 'Inspector Troy' series, it was absorbing, intelligent and hard to put down. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Avidreader
2.0 out of 5 stars dull with a capital D
Starts well and is a good read for100 pages, then it drifts with mostly unnecessary descriptions to drag three book out to usual novel length. Read more
Published 5 months ago by susan graham
1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible tosh
As I read further into this nonsense, the overwhelming improbability of each new element just piled onto previous improbabilities. Read more
Published 10 months ago by dsalisbu
5.0 out of 5 stars A shame that there are only 5 stars available
Thriller and mystery writers are ten a penny, some excellent others not so gifted, but if you look around carefully you will find some writers who although they might specialise in... Read more
Published 11 months ago by G. Waterman
4.0 out of 5 stars a book of two halves
A Lily of the Field consists of two distinct parts. The first part charts the various strands of Meret, Victor and Szabo from 1934 to 1948, putting in place the contextual back... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Rob Kitchin
5.0 out of 5 stars Moving
Avery moving story of fortitude and endurance by the heroine. If anyone gets the chance to visit Austvist ( now a museum) do go, your life will be changed.
Published 14 months ago by R. C. Tuck
5.0 out of 5 stars A Lily of the Field
A very interesting fictional account of the escape from Nazi Germany of those concerned, first, in the making of the first atomic bomb and, at the same time, spies who had also... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Gotlieb
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