Snow Country: SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

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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.

Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks | Waterstones

Anton – a roaming journalist who witnesses the building of the Suez Canal before experiencing the horror of war. As Anton becomes more successful, assignments to Paris and Moscow follow as well as a trip to report on the US-led construction of the Panama Canal. The latter has resonance for citizens of France because of the earlier involvement of Ferdinand de Lesseps, for a time a national hero because of his role in the construction of the Suez Canal. Unfortunately, his attempts to build a sea-level canal across the isthmus of Panama ended in failure with investors in the project losing everything. However, the outbreak of the First World War has momentous consequences for Anton, leaving emotional scars and unanswered questions. I have read Sebastian Faulks’ other books over many years and this book is definitely as powerful as his others. This book follows the story started in Human Traces, published in 2005. I remember reading it on honeymoon in Thailand in 2006 and loving it. I wish the gap between reading these wasn’t as long, I can only remember the actual story vaguely (it was a long time ago!). Asked about a recent Human Traces discussion on Radio 4. The book is dedicated to son Arthur (8 years old). Faulks had been sked by his son to write about a secret passage- hence the hidden staircase in the book. During a live interview on Front Row Faulks was asked about the Freudian symbolism of the concealed staircase!!!. Birdsong. Little Brown in New York opined that the book was too long. And could it be relocated for recent conflagrations? (Snow Country has no American publisher.)I did love the section devoted to the building of the Panama Canal. It was such a huge feat, built at the cost of so many lives, and I had never before considered the logistics of the task. Faulks made this very real for me. Overpowering and beautiful ... Ambitious, outrageous, poignant, sleep-disturbing' Simon Schama on Birdsong Mark started the interview by asking Sebastian what drew him to writing this novel set in the early 20th century. ‘This book is set mainly between the two world wars in a very turbulent time. It's a period you've written about before. What draws you to this specific time, the 20s and the 30s?’

Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks: Unique and expansive love Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks: Unique and expansive love

The historical context is done well, we get a real sense of places and their atmosphere and the political changes are conveyed clearly. There are some good fairly brief scenes in the trenches and some quite graphic medical scenes which shows the frantic and difficult conditions of field hospitals. Through the Schloss the focus switches to treatments and views on mental health and this is interesting. A particularly strong element of the writing are the beautifully written descriptions of the area in and around the Schloss and these are so easy to visualise. MY THOUGHTS: Snow Country is a book of dreams, yearning and hope balanced against the horrors of WWI and the approach of WWII, and the struggles, both political and personal, of the period in between. The scope of this novel is huge, almost too huge, and I sometimes felt swamped by it, rather than encompassed by it as I have with other works I have read by this author. I had the chance to hear Faulks’s Interview with Clare Armistead at Charleston, Sussex on 3 Sept 2021, the day of the book’s launch. Some interesting reflections on Snow Country and wider matters were aired: In 2001 Charlotte Gray was made into a film starring Cate Blanchett and directed by Gillian Armstrong. In 2010 a stage version of Birdsong, adapted by Rachel Wagstaff (who had previously adapted The Girl at the Lion d'Or for radio) [27] and directed by Trevor Nunn, opened at the Comedy Theatre in London; the production ran for only 4 months. It was subsequently rewritten by Wagstaff and made four successful nationwide tours. In 2012, Birdsong was made into a two-part BBC TV serial, written by Abi Morgan, directed by Philip Martin and starring Eddie Redmayne. [28] [29] This followed several attempts to film the novel. [30] [31] Honours and awards [ edit ] Snow Country is a well-written, well-researched character-driven novel. Although this is a sequel, it can be easily read as a standalone.

Anton may “have a low opinion of the human creature, the male in particular”, but he is capable of deep friendship and his love for Delphine is true. The impulsive Lena has little education and, like her mother, a weakness for alcohol, but she possesses a fierce and loyal heart. Damage cannot be undone but it is possible to reach an approximate understanding of oneself and to find solace, even love, amid the world’s uncertainties. It is a conclusion that should offer reassurance but, after Anton’s anguished existential wrestlings, contrives only to feel rather pat. EXCERPT: When Anton arrived the following day, he found that Delphine had set up a work table for him at the window overlooking the park. Snow country manages to powerfully combine a detailed and intimate focus on the lives and minds of its main characters, with a grand overview of a tumultuous and rapidly changing world across three decades.

Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks review – the collective

With the same slow pace, the author then describes day to day existence of the haves and have nots, the things people do for a living, the rise of social parties, hidden agendas and (at last), new and innovative approaches to mental health. Hopeful.Through the gradual convergence of his characters’ lives, Faulks powerfully evokes the mood of a continent that still has not processed its collective trauma, even as the threat of another looms. “This is not the great age of belief any more,” Martha tells Anton. “We’re a third of the way through the new century. But the great advance in medicine and science has stopped. Instead, we’re trying to understand the death of 10 million men.”