[1] The novel depicts the tale of a young woman who discovers that her mother was recruited as a spy during World War II.

The book gained general public interest when it was chosen for inclusion in 'Book Club 2007', on the UK television show Richard & Judy.

Marianne MacDonald, for The Observer, said that Boyd's novel was "a good, rollicking read...Restless pulls you deep into the obscure, forgotten intricacies of wartime espionage, in particular the covert operations run by the British in America before Pearl Harbor".

[3] David Mattin, reviewing Restless for The Independent, described the book's ending as "both page-turning and deft, leaving us with a moving feeling that it is our histories, and our ever-changing, private interpretations of them, that render us ultimately unknowable.

[5] It was produced by Hilary Bevan Jones, directed by Edward Hall and featured Hayley Atwell, Rufus Sewell, Michelle Dockery, Michael Gambon and Charlotte Rampling.