With over 200,000 copies sold in the UK, a Richard & Judy pick, rights sold in 19 countries, called “riveting” and “mesmerizing,” this is a cinematic debut from a gifted new writer. Based on real family events, Danny Scheinmann’s novel paints a dramatic portrait of two epic love stories. 1992: Traveling through South America with his girlfriend, Leo wakes up in a hopsital to find his girlfriend is dead. He blames himself for the tragedy and is sucked into a spiral of despair. But a surprising secret leads Leo to discover something that will change his life forever. 1917: Moritz is a POW fugitve, with seven thousand kilometers of the Russian steppes separating him from his first love, whose memory has kept him alive through carnage and captivity. The war may be over, but he now faces a perilous journey and the insecurity of whether his love is still waiting.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Young Leo Deakin wakes in a hospital in Ecuador in 1992 to discover that his girlfriend, Eleni, has died in a bus crash. Overwhelmed with guilt and grief, Leo returns to life seeking the meaning behind his new predicament: left behind, haunted by his dead lover and ambivalent over whether he should shake her hold on him. In an effort to break through his son's grief, Leo's dad imparts the tale of Leo's grandfather Moritz Daniecki, who as a WWI POW escaped across the Siberian wasteland to make it back to the woman he loved. The parallel powers of love and grief form the meeting points of these mirror sagas, which Scheinmann combines to remarkable effect. Leo and Moritz are tender, deeply feeling, put-upon characters who never descend into mawkishness; indeed, readers will feel most for Leo when he's at his worst. Dotted with strange scientific trivia, this beautiful debut novel provides deft moments of poignancy and surprise. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
“Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,” Tennyson once wrote. The primary characters in Scheinmann’s poignant debut novel are powerful examples of that sentiment. British professor Leo Deakin had been enjoying an exotic trip to Ecuador with his beloved Eleni when she was killed in a bus crash on one of the country’s notoriously perilous roads. Leo survived the accident, and his wounds healed, but his grief never abated. Nearly a century earlier, Polish soldier Moritz Daniecki bravely battled World War I and endured several POW camps, only to find himself thousands of miles from his sweetheart, Lotte. He trekked across the most desolate stretches of Siberia to reach her, ever wondering whether she would remember him at all. The link between Leo’s and Moritz’s lives is revealed in the novel’s late pages, as is Scheinmann’s very personal reason for penning the tale. Some may be frustrated by the novel’s lack of cohesion and flow, but the narrative strategy builds suspense, and the love story itself will hold readers. --Allison Block
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Five stars are not enough! 'Random Acts of Heroic Love', is an incredible debut novel from Danny Scheinmann. A labour of love in itself; in his acknowledgements the author says it took six years and numerous drafts to get it right, but all that painstaking work has paid dividends. It's a wonderfully rich, insightful and wrenchingly emotional novel.
The story begins in 1992 with Leo, a young PhD student, waking up in an Ecuadorian clinic to find that his girlfriend Eleni is dead. Eleni. His soulmate. The other half of his whole. She's been killed in a bus crash they were in - the only victim of the crash. Leo's loss, and his attempt to go on living, picking up the pieces of his previous existence, without Eleni, is just one half of the book. Leo turns to Physics to try and find some answers and interspersed throughout the pages of the novel are facsimile pages from a journal Leo was keeping to help him get through Eleni's death... One of the quotes Leo finds is the one I used for the title of my review.
The other story, which picks up at chapter 3, is every bit as heart-wrenching. It is the story of another young man from Galicia, Moritz Daniecki, caught up in the war on the Russian Front as a soldier from 1914 through to 1917. In 1914 before the outbreak of war, young Moritz meets the love of his life, Lotte, and they declare their love for each other before Moritz goes to war. During the war he suffers unbearable conditions before finally escaping from a prisoner of war camp in Sibera. Moritz tells the story of how he is driven across the Siberian wilderness by his everlasting love for Lotte. It is her memory and the letters that he writes to her that keeps him going on his journey... not knowing what he will find at the end.
The two stories are truly beautiful. Both young men are kept going through each and every day by their memories of love, and the connection between the two is revealed at the end (if you haven't already guessed). Superbly written. The harshness of a Siberian winter and First World War horrors are vividly brough to life by Scheinmann. The book takes you on a non-stop emotional roller coaster and only those with cast-iron feelings will remain unmoved! An exceptional book.
The story begins in 1992 with Leo, a young PhD student, waking up in an Ecuadorian clinic to find that his girlfriend Eleni is dead. Eleni. His soulmate. The other half of his whole. She's been killed in a bus crash they were in - the only victim of the crash. Leo's loss, and his attempt to go on living, picking up the pieces of his previous existence, without Eleni, is just one half of the book. Leo turns to Physics to try and find some answers and interspersed throughout the pages of the novel are facsimile pages from a journal Leo was keeping to help him get through Eleni's death... One of the quotes Leo finds is the one I used for the title of my review.
The other story, which picks up at chapter 3, is every bit as heart-wrenching. It is the story of another young man from Galicia, Moritz Daniecki, caught up in the war on the Russian Front as a soldier from 1914 through to 1917. In 1914 before the outbreak of war, young Moritz meets the love of his life, Lotte, and they declare their love for each other before Moritz goes to war. During the war he suffers unbearable conditions before finally escaping from a prisoner of war camp in Sibera. Moritz tells the story of how he is driven across the Siberian wilderness by his everlasting love for Lotte. It is her memory and the letters that he writes to her that keeps him going on his journey... not knowing what he will find at the end.
The two stories are truly beautiful. Both young men are kept going through each and every day by their memories of love, and the connection between the two is revealed at the end (if you haven't already guessed). Superbly written. The harshness of a Siberian winter and First World War horrors are vividly brough to life by Scheinmann. The book takes you on a non-stop emotional roller coaster and only those with cast-iron feelings will remain unmoved! An exceptional book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I bought this book on a recent trip to England, where it is available everywhere in paperback. For a good part of the book I was happy to be reading a well-written, enjoyable story (or two stories, as it seems), and it was only at about 2/3 of the way through that the hyperbole surrounding the book became obviously justified. When I was done, all I could think was "wow" and wish forlornly that there was still more to read. A truly wonderful little book, that deserves publication and mass distribution in the U.S.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This wasn't a book I would have chosen...possibly because the title had the word 'love' in it and possibly because it was a Judy and Richard recommendation (they DO review some good books, but the fact that they never seem to dislike any...whereas I do....puts me off).
However, it was picked for the reading group I belong to and... I loved it!!
Love does play a major part , but not in a soppy way. The book begins with Leo who wakes up in hospital in South America to the realisation that his girlfriend Eleni is dead...then the chapters alternate between Leo's story and that of Moritz Daniecki a young soldier caught up in WWI on the Russian Front. In between the chapters are journal pages which include factual information on the trials of love in the animal kingdom; from crabs to elephants...sounds odd but is relevant and interesting.
This book is stunningly realistic, whether it's the battle of Gnila Lipa and the graphic description of war, backpacking in South America or the fun and friendship of university.
Roberto was fascinating, I can't have been the only reader considering researching quantum physics can I? ;-)
Overall though, it makes you realise the importance of having someone to talk to who understands, the knowing that you're not the first person to have known grief and...the realisation that life does go on.
Humourous...sad, heroic, brave, inspirational...a book to cover all emotions.
However, it was picked for the reading group I belong to and... I loved it!!
Love does play a major part , but not in a soppy way. The book begins with Leo who wakes up in hospital in South America to the realisation that his girlfriend Eleni is dead...then the chapters alternate between Leo's story and that of Moritz Daniecki a young soldier caught up in WWI on the Russian Front. In between the chapters are journal pages which include factual information on the trials of love in the animal kingdom; from crabs to elephants...sounds odd but is relevant and interesting.
This book is stunningly realistic, whether it's the battle of Gnila Lipa and the graphic description of war, backpacking in South America or the fun and friendship of university.
Roberto was fascinating, I can't have been the only reader considering researching quantum physics can I? ;-)
Overall though, it makes you realise the importance of having someone to talk to who understands, the knowing that you're not the first person to have known grief and...the realisation that life does go on.
Humourous...sad, heroic, brave, inspirational...a book to cover all emotions.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
lost and found love
REVIEW
This was a Richard and Judy recommendation, which is sometimes off-putting as they seem to like every book, however they do pick some really good ones. Read more
This was a Richard and Judy recommendation, which is sometimes off-putting as they seem to like every book, however they do pick some really good ones. Read more
Published 1 month ago by janette
great book!
first, you're just caught in one story; then another; then you know they will connect but you still dont know how; then they do...
highly recommended.
highly recommended.
Published 11 months ago by miko
Just Beautiful
This was a beautifully written story which I was sad to see end. It truly touched my heart. I was totally transported into these people's lives. Read more
Published on July 17, 2009 by Gina
Parallel stories eventually hook up
When I'm desperate for a good book, I turn to Book-of-the-Month Club, one of the best sources for mid-list writers who don't get a lot of promotion. Read more
Published on March 9, 2009 by Dave Schwinghammer
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The mind after a sharp blow to the head is like a house after a hurricane: unrecognizable shards, shreds and splinters. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Lieutenant Neidlein, Maria Clemencia de Leon, Lev Borisovich, Frantz Kiraly, South America, Queen Eleni, Latin America, Central Powers, Lotte Steinberg, Red Cross, Queen Bess, New Year's Eve, Jerzy Ingwer, Doctor Sanchez, Red Army, Piotr Baryslaw, Leo Deakin, Moritz Daniecki, Lake Baikal, Lupków Pass Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The mind after a sharp blow to the head is like a house after a hurricane: unrecognizable shards, shreds and splinters. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Lieutenant Neidlein, Maria Clemencia de Leon, Lev Borisovich, Frantz Kiraly, South America, Queen Eleni, Latin America, Central Powers, Lotte Steinberg, Red Cross, Queen Bess, New Year's Eve, Jerzy Ingwer, Doctor Sanchez, Red Army, Piotr Baryslaw, Leo Deakin, Moritz Daniecki, Lake Baikal, Lupków Pass Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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