The Winter Soldier
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- 5,99 €
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- 5,99 €
Publisher Description
'Part mystery, part war story, part romance, The Winter Soldier is a dream of a novel' - Anthony Doerr, bestselling author of All The Light We Cannot See.
Discover this spellbinding story of love and the tragedies of war from the bestselling author of North Woods, Daniel Mason.
Vienna, 1914. Lucius is a young, idealistic medical student, whose life takes an unexpected turn with the outbreak of the First World War. Volunteering in the name of heroic battlefield tales, he finds himself in a catastrophic field-hospital, besieged by typhus, and thrust into a grueling learning process from the only remaining nurse.
The real test of his resolve comes with the arrival of an enigmatic soldier, his uniform filled with mysterious drawings. He seems beyond rescue, until Lucius makes a fateful decision that will change the course of his life . . .
'Held me by the throat from the first lyrical page to the last' – Emma Donoghue, bestselling author of Room
'One of the best books I've ever read' – Elizabeth Macneal, bestselling author of The Doll Factory
'One of the finest prose stylists in American fiction' – The New York Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Mason's moving historical novel (after The Piano Tuner), Lucius Krzelewski is a 22-year-old, upper-class medical student in 1914 Vienna who, after Austria enters World War I, volunteers for duty. Despite his lack of practical experience, he is sent to a field hospital in the Carpathian Mountains, where he is expected to perform emergency surgeries. Fortunately, he is guided by Sister Margarete, a nurse with a mysterious background who teaches him the surgical skills he lacks. They go on to become lovers. One day, they are given a new patient, a shell-shocked soldier who can only communicate by drawing pictures. Lucius becomes obsessed with finding a cure for this patient, who is dubbed the winter soldier. Then, Margarete disappears and Lucius gets lost looking for her. He is transferred to another medical unit, then is returned home to Vienna. But despite an arranged marriage, Lucius can't go on with his life until he finds out what happened to Margarete and the winter soldier. Mason's old-fashioned novel delivers a sweeping yet intimate account of WWI, and in Lucius, the author has created an outstanding protagonist. Reminiscent of Thomas Keneally's Season in Purgatory, this novel is a fine addition to fictional testaments of doctors and nurses during wartime.
