Well it has taken me a long time to finish this book, not because it isn’t absolutely beautiful and excellently written but the content is biographical and documents so dark times in European history. I couldn’t have put it better than the blurb which states ‘ But gradually, as Sebald’s precise, almost dreamlike prose begins to work its magic, the four narrations merge into one overwhelming evocation of exile and loss.’ A truly powerful read and full of magical sentences which express those feelings you sometimes just can’t pinpoint.