The Road Back

A Novel

By: Erich Maria Remarque

Narrated by: Graham Halstead

The sequel to the masterpiece All Quiet on the Western Front, The Road Back is a classic novel of the slow return of peace to Europe in the years following World War I.

After four grueling years, the Great War has finally ended. Now Ernst and the few men left from his company cannot help wondering what will become of them. The town they departed as eager young men seems colder, their homes smaller, the reasons their comrades had to die even more inexplicable. For Ernst and his friends, the road back to peace is more treacherous than they ever imagined. Suffering food shortages, political unrest, and a broken heart, Ernst undergoes a crisis that teaches him what there is to live for - and what he has that no one can ever take away.

©1958 Erich Maria Remarque (P)2018 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure." (The New York Times Book Review)

Beautiful and powerful

A powerful account of a young man who went through the unspeakable horrors of war and the psychological aftermath affecting him and his comrades and their families. This should be required reading for teenagers so they remember it, should they ever be seduced to support war at any point in the future. Beautifully written.

Remarque’s embrace

What a heartfelt homage this is to the lost generation. And how warm was the delivery from the reader. Now this is how all those that have survived war and conflict feel, think, speak, and live.

Great addition to the previous book

I really enjoy this author use of words and description of events.
This book isn't fully like the first one, but the aftermath of war and the road home again.
It gives a glimpse of PTSD, family life adjustment, and struggles for rights as a vet.

I really enjoyed the performance and overall story.

Better than the first.

Great narration, superb story, heavy subject matter that is still relevant today. A must listen!

Great Successor to All Quiet on the Western Front

If you admired Remarque's masterpiece All Quiet on the Western Front, you'll be captivated by this as well. The author's perspective could only come from one who experienced the Great War himself. His language is simple, poetic, authentic, and a great tribute to all who suffered, both during the war and when they returned home.

Wow what a book.

Delving into themes of war, politics, and PTSD, what a masterpiece this is. I also appreciate the variety of vocabulary used here. Lots of words I didn't realize were used in that time period.

Overlooked but fantastic in its own

It must have been hard to follow up something like "All Quiet on the Western Front", but Remarque pulls it off perfectly. This story is rife with heartbreak, depression, loss, aimlessness, ... It's humanity run adrift. A real emotional rollercoaster.

Great listen. Great book

This book picks up where All Quiet leaves off. It's a sad and touching account of a group of young German men upon returning home after the war.

Same beautiful and stark language as AQOTWF, but not quite the epic that novel is.

Still a worthwhile listen. Leaves your with a sense of both hope and despair in humanity

Good book on the struggles veterans have

This was a good book about the struggles veterans of World War I had. Some of the struggles that have affected them can still apply for veterans today.

Tragic, , brutal realism, sequel to All Quiet

The sorrowful recounting of German soldiers coming home at the end of the Great War. Brief vivid stark stories showing they have lost not only a million dead comrades, but all hope, idealism, and civilized behavior, how the war has brutalized them, made them cynical, and lost.