It's been a week since I finished 'A God in Ruins' and I still find myself thinking a great deal about Teddy Todd and the rest of his family. Having been introduced to Kate Atkinson's books a couple of years ago, I've enjoyed them all, culminating with 'Life after Life' and 'A God in Ruins'. As it says on the cover, this book stands alone, and can be enjoyed without having read 'Life after Life' first, but I appreciated the benefit of feeling a certain familiarity and head start with the characters, of knowing about Hugh and Sylvie and Fox Corner, and about Ursula, Izzie and her creation, Augustus.
Where 'Life after Life' told us about Ursula's war, so 'A God in Ruins' tells us about Teddy's, and his experience of being a bomber pilot. But as well as his war, we get his family too. So, we have Nancy, the girl from next door to Fox Corner, but then the next generations as well, their daughter Viola, and her children Sunny and Bertie. And of course, because Kate Atkinson is so good at this sort of thing, as we get to see their lives unfold, we get to care deeply about all of them.
But most of all, as I was reading I got to caring about Teddy. The book is structured with his in-war story cut in amongst his post-war story, with both leading to their conclusion together. Having read 'Life after Life', I was prepared not to expect time to be a necessarily reliable, before leads to after experience. Plus, in the paperback copy I was reading, there were several reviews at the front of the book that referred to a 'twist' and even the front cover told me the book was 'heartbreaking'. So, I was approaching the end with some trepidation. However, even with the warnings, even with some guessing of what the twist was likely to be ("but surely not, surely, please!") it didn't stop it from being any less gut-wrenching when it finally came.
Excellent book by a great author. Looking forward to reading 'Transcription'.