The Distance from Normandy: A Novel [Hardcover]

Jonathan Hull (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 16, 2003

Mead parachuted into Normandy on D-Day and fought his way to Germany, through some of the most brutal violence of World War II. But his most difficult battle was lost years later, when his beloved wife Sophie succumbed to cancer. Since then, he has waged a private war against both loneliness and the terrible memory of a day in 1945 that went horribly wrong-and has haunted him ever since.

His grandson Andrew, a scared and angry high school sophomore, has been expelled and is heading down a path of self-destruction. Mead agrees to take the boy in for three weeks, to set him right. At first, the two circle warily around each other, finding little in common. Then Andrew befriends a widow named Evelyn, and Mead busies himself fending off the match, even as he feels a reluctant attraction to this cheerful woman who seems to understand his grandson.

One afternoon, rummaging through the garage, Andrew discovers an antique Luger, the deadly memento of his grandfather's war. In a final effort to save his grandson from himself, Mead takes the teenager on a journey to the beaches, bunkers, and cemeteries of Normandy, where both of them confront the secrets they have been trying to forget.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A cranky grandfather, a troubled teen, memories of World War II and a trip to the beaches of Normandy-in less talented hands, you'd have the mawkish recipe for a bad movie of the week, but Hull's smooth writing transforms this familiar material into a fast-moving, likable tale. Hull covers some of the same territory-the vicissitudes of old age, the bittersweet ache of memory and the horrors of war-as he did in his first novel, Losing Julia, but this time the focus is on the recently widowed Mead and his relationship with his grandson, 16-year-old Andrew. Andrew has just been kicked out of school for brandishing a penknife. His best friend, Matt, has killed himself and Andrew is thinking of doing the same. Mead suggests to his single-parent daughter, Sharon, that Andrew fly from Chicago to visit him in California for a three-week stay. Mead has little sympathy for teenage boys in general and not much more for his bleached-blond, earring-wearing, pants-dragging grandson. But both Mead and Andrew are intelligent and caring, and with the help of the attractive widow across the street, the two settle into a prickly rapprochement. After Andrew gets into more trouble, Mead decides the only way to save him is to take the boy on a tour of the WWII battlefields where he fought when he was a young man. Surely Andrew will then appreciate the advantages he should be enjoying and will straighten himself out. None of this works quite as Mead thinks it will, but secrets are revealed and truths both harsh and pleasant learned. Everyone, the reader included, is left with a newfound sense of hope and understanding.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Another nostalgic, romantic saga from the author of Losing Julia (1999). Hull centers this one on an elderly man named Mead. Alone after his wife's death from cancer, the World War II vet is beset by bad dreams and unsettling memories. Soon, Mead finds himself spending lots of time with Andrew, his young, malcontented grandson. The pairing feels a bit forced at times, as when the older man decides to take Andrew on a trip to Europe in an effort to instill a sense a sense of perspective in the boy. "I'll take him to the museums and show him the palace and the Tower of London and tell him about the Blitz," Mead thinks to himself. It is a quaint notion, that a grandfather's history lesson would change a youngster's life, but the relationship ends up generating true drama in the form of a frightening near tragedy. Meantime, Hull's characters yield genuine insight into the lives of both the young and old. Kevin Canfield
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (September 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312314116
• ISBN-13: 978-0312314118
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,237,941 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jonathan Hull is the bestselling author of Losing Julia and The Distance from Normandy. His third novel, The Devoted, will be published in early Spring 2012.

Born in Philadelphia and raised in Connecticut and Illinois, Hull joined TIME magazine after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley. Hull spent ten years as a correspondent at TIME, including three as the Jerusalem Bureau Chief. His reporting has ranged from the Gulf War and the Palestinian uprising to presidential politics and the troubled underside of American society. A cover story he wrote on youth violence won the Society of Professional Journalists' prestigious Sigma Delta Chi award for magazine journalism.


A father of two, Hull lives in Sausalito, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I eagerly looked forward to Hull's next title., July 26, 2004

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Distance from Normandy: A Novel (Hardcover)

THE DISTANCE FROM NORMANDY is the long-awaited sophomore novel from Jonathan Hull, whose debut effort, LOSING JULIA, is one of my favorite books. Once again Hull engages and envelops readers in his story.

As the book opens, Mead, a World War II veteran with harrowing memories of the Battle of Normandy, is living alone in California. He misses his wife, who died of cancer. He copes with the realities of old age, and he spends a lot of the day nostalgic about the past.

His world is rocked one day when his daughter, Sharon, a single mom, calls to inform him that his only grandchild, Andrew, has been booted from school for brandishing a penknife at a bully. Andrew is coping badly with the suicide of his best friend, Matt, and could benefit from some stability in his life in a new place. Mead offers to have his grandson spend three weeks of summer vacation with him. His goal: to get Andrew back in line.

As soon as Andrew arrives, their worlds collide. Mead lives his life with the orderliness of the Army, while Andrew is a typical teen, prone to wearing loose fitting clothes, lying on his bed listening to music and daydreaming about girls. His grandfather cannot relate to Andrew and reflects back on his own youth that was defined by war, comrades who blew up around him and life that was all too real.

Mead and Andrew strike a measured relationship. They test each other endlessly. While there is an essence of caring between them, there is a gap in their rapport that has been bred by physical and emotional distance. Neither is warm; both are hurting. Each is trapped in his own memories --- Andrew of wishing he had been able to save Matt, and Mead of war and an incident in Normandy that haunts him.

One day while rummaging around the house while Mead is out, Andrew finds an old German Luger, which is a souvenir from the war along with some other war momentoes. Shortly after this Andrew gets himself into more trouble and Mead makes a decision to take him to Normandy to show him the world he knew with a goal to sharpen him up about history, and what mattered. This trip to Europe --- and into the past --- brings secrets to the surface for both of them.

While plot and storyline are critical to any book's success, Hull's true skill comes from how he writes character and emotion. His style captivates his readers and immediately draws them into the story. As he did in LOSING JULIA, Hull captures the indignity of growing old. Here he also captures the pressures of being young.

There are many comedic moments as these two generations collide. The first night Mead buys huge steaks for dinner only to learn that his grandson is a vegetarian. Their first trip to the California beach together pairs this aging codger with a penchant for embarassing bathing attire with his grandson who is a slave to his raging hormones and a teen's desire to fit in.

Some of the best dialogue surrounds Andrew's matchmaking attempts to bring his grandfather and Evelyn, the woman across the street, together. Mead is his usual curmudgeony self about this. Andrew is tenacious in his efforts. The story here takes a twist that this reviewer found extraneous, but delivered some imagery that wrapped the book nicely.

I read this book four months before tapping out this review, yet I still find myself smiling as I think about it. It's not LOSING JULIA, but it is a book that I recommend heartily. And as I read the last page, I eagerly looked forward to Hull's next title. Jonathan, get writing!

--- Reviewed by Carol Fitzgerald

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Generations Collide and Memories Haunt in Riveting Novel, September 28, 2004

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Distance from Normandy: A Novel (Hardcover)

Having been thoroughly mesmerized by Hull's first novel, LOSING JULIA, I was anxious to see if he could do it again or would he become, as many writers do, a one-hit wonder. Happily, he has equalled, if not exceeded, his earlier effort.

The realities of old age manifest themselves in the form of Mead, a WWII veteran dealing with wartime memories that won't let go and the death of Sophie, his wife of fifty-one years. His life has become a boring wait, waiting to join Sophie.

But one day his daughter calls from Chicago bemoaning the fact her son Andrew has been expelled from high school. She is a single mother who has reached the end of her resources and desperately needs help. Mead offers to take his grandson into his Santa Monica home and give his daughter a break.

Never was the generation gap more apparent than with Andrew and Mead in their first weeks together. Andrew arrives with bleached hair, jeans bagging below a decent level, and an earring. He is a pitiful sight with a terrible case of acne and a huge chip on his shoulder. Mead cannot believe his grandson has pulled a knife on another kid at school or that his nice normal life has produced a kid who looks like Andrew.

Andrew is not exactly thrilled to be with his grandfather either. He has been relentlessly bullied in school and only after his only friend commits suicide does he retaliate by pulling a knife on the chief bullier.

This unlikely duo seems destined for misery and is only slightly helped by an elderly woman who lives across the street from Mead and can see the goodness in both men. A near-tragedy shocks Mead out of his complacent life and forces him to act in order to save his grandson. Hoping to show him what a wonderful life he has and how much he has to be thankful for, he takes him on a trip to the famous battlegrounds of Europe including Normandy where Mead parachuted in on the D-Day invasion.

Jonathan Hull has done a remarkable job of getting inside the head of both characters, of showing the obstinancy and fear both have, and the slow and wary way they come to see the other person's heartache. For both have demons to exorcise and each will have to learn to lean on the other for the strength necessary.

A beautifully told tale of the hardship of aging with dignity, the trauma of being an outsider, the tragedy of losing those closest to you, and the memories that must be let go of in order to face the future unafraid.

From his graphic descriptions of wartime to his humorous look at how it feels to go to the beach with your grandfather, Jonathan Hull gives the reader something to think about, to reflect upon, and to cherish.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hull once again engages and envelops readers in his story, October 4, 2003

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Distance from Normandy: A Novel (Hardcover)

THE DISTANCE FROM NORMANDY is the long-awaited sophomore novel from Jonathan Hull, whose debut effort, LOSING JULIA, is one of my favorite books. Once again Hull engages and envelops readers in his story.

As the book opens, Mead, a World War II veteran with harrowing memories of the Battle of Normandy, is living alone in California. He misses his wife, who died of cancer. He copes with the realities of old age, and he spends a lot of the day nostalgic about the past.

His world is rocked one day when his daughter, Sharon, a single mom, calls to inform him that his only grandchild, Andrew, has been booted from school for brandishing a penknife at a bully. Andrew is coping badly with the suicide of his best friend, Matt, and could benefit from some stability in his life in a new place. Mead offers to have his grandson spend three weeks of summer vacation with him. His goal: to get Andrew back in line.

As soon as Andrew arrives, their worlds collide. Mead lives his life with the orderliness of the Army, while Andrew is a typical teen, prone to wearing loose fitting clothes, lying on his bed listening to music and daydreaming about girls. His grandfather cannot relate to Andrew and reflects back on his own youth that was defined by war, comrades who blew up around him and life that was all too real.

Mead and Andrew strike a measured relationship. They test each other endlessly. While there is an essence of caring between them, there is a gap in their rapport that has been bred by physical and emotional distance. Neither is warm; both are hurting. Each is trapped in his own memories --- Andrew of wishing he had been able to save Matt, and Mead of war and an incident in Normandy that haunts him.

One day while rummaging around the house while Mead is out, Andrew finds an old German Luger, which is a souvenir from the war along with some other war momentoes. Shortly after this Andrew gets himself into more trouble and Mead makes a decision to take him to Normandy to show him the world he knew with a goal to sharpen him up about history, and what mattered. This trip to Europe --- and into the past --- brings secrets to the surface for both of them.

While plot and storyline are critical to any book's success, Hull's true skill comes from how he writes character and emotion. His style captivates his readers and immediately draws them into the story. As he did in LOSING JULIA, Hull captures the indignity of growing old. Here he also captures the pressures of being young.

There are many comedic moments as these two generations collide. The first night Mead buys huge steaks for dinner only to learn that his grandson is a vegetarian. Their first trip to the California beach together pairs this aging codger with a penchant for embarassing bathing attire with his grandson who is a slave to his raging hormones and a teen's desire to fit in.

Some of the best dialogue surrounds Andrew's matchmaking attempts to bring his grandfather and Evelyn, the woman across the street, together. Mead is his usual curmudgeony self about this. Andrew is tenacious in his efforts. The story here takes a twist that this reviewer found extraneous, but delivered some imagery that wrapped the book nicely.

I read this book four months before tapping out this review, yet I still find myself smiling as I think about it. It's not LOSING JULIA, but it is a book that I recommend heartily. And as I read the last page, I eagerly looked forward to Hull's next title. Jonathan, get writing!

--- Reviewed by Carol Fitzgerald