Keith Lowe
Knights & Commissars
The Glass Wall: Lives on the Baltic Frontier
By Max Egremont
Picador 306pp £25 order from our bookshop
I once had the honour of appearing on Estonian breakfast television. I had written a history of postwar violence in Europe and was in Tallinn on a book tour. My hosts had kept me up until at least 2am the night before, plying me with endless glasses of liquid hospitality. Sitting in that studio under a blaze of lights, I desperately tried to mask my hangover by placing a fixed grin on my face. It turned out to be a mistake, because the presenter picked up on it immediately. My book was about violence and atrocity, she reminded me. Was that really something to smile about? Estonia had suffered terribly under both the Nazis and the Soviets. Wasn’t it irresponsible of me to stir up these difficult memories? In this part of the world, she implied, history was something best forgotten.
This experience came to mind while reading Max Egremont’s extraordinary book about his own travels through Estonia and Latvia. Part travelogue and part history book, it is a brilliant exploration of how the past infuses the landscape, buildings, art, literature, traditions, food, conversations and lived experience of the Baltic people.
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
My latest children's round up for @Lit_Review feat. @LissaKEvans WISHED, @MissDePlume SMALL!, @skyemc_kenna's HEDGWITCH, @emmac2603 ESCAPE... @PhilipPullman's IMAGINATION...
https://literaryreview.co.uk/there-be-giants
Very happy to make my @Lit_Review debut with a review of @WillWiles "The Last Blade Priest" a fast-paced story set in an immersive world with nuanced inter-group dynamics and humane characters
https://literaryreview.co.uk/mountain-duel
I have a review of Hugh Brody’s powerful memoir Landscapes of Silence in the latest @Lit_Review https://literaryreview.co.uk/cold-comforts-3