LindyLouMac's Book Reviews: Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks

Friday, January 13, 2023

Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks

Snow Country: SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER by [Sebastian Faulks]

Paperback: 351 pages

Genre: Literary Historical Fiction

Publisher: Vintage, Penguin Random House 2022

Source: Tywyn Public Library

First Sentences: From his height only a hundred feet above the trees, the pilot could see two people running over the ground below - oncoming out of wood, another through a gate in the one, clinging on to his hat as he ran. Their goals a long brown tent, set against a hedgerow that marked the border of a field.

Setting: Austria

Review Quote: Sebastian Faulks' latest novel is beautifully written, shot through with a sense of the frailty of love that is at times reminiscent of William Faulkner's The Wild Palms... This is a superb novel ― Spectator

Literary awards:

Walter Scott Prize Nominee for Historical Fiction Longlist (2022)

Series:

Austrian Trilogy (#2)

My Opinion: I have been reading the novels of Sebastian Faulks since the nineteen nineties and always find them to be thought provoking, so was not surprised that this title was selected as our latest bookclub choice. As a sequel to Human Traces(2005) it stands alone and there is absolutely no need to read it first, the only crossover is that we meet some of the same characters again, although not as protagonists and psychiatry plays a big role.

‘Snow Country’ is a heart moving and tragic love story set in a Europe, mainly Austria that is struggling to recover from WWI. Complex it is more of a character driven novel, which at times feel slow as there is really not a plot as such. The protagonists Anton and Lena in their own ways are both struggling to cope with living in a world of such political turmoil.

An intense read. If you enjoy a well researched historical novel, set in beautiful locations with strong characterisation, this is one for you.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

1914: Aspiring journalist Anton arrives in Vienna where he meets Delphine, a woman of deep secrets. Anton is entranced by the light of first love, until his country declares war on hers.

1927: For Lena, life in a small town has been cosseted and cold. When her love affair with a young lawyer crumbles, she leaves to take a post at the snow-capped sanatorium, the Schloss Seeblick.

1933: Anton is sent to write about the mysterious Schloss Seeblick. In this place, on the banks of a silvery lake where the roots of human suffering are laid bare, two people will see each other as if for the first time.

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