Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2014
416 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
1920, central Russia. The Red Terror tightens its hold. Kolya has deserted his Red Army unit and returns home to bury his brother and reunite with his wife and sons. But he finds the village silent and empty. The men have been massacred in the forest. The women and children have disappeared.
In this remote, rural Russian community the folk tales that mothers tell their children by candlelight take on powerful significance, and the terrifying legend of Koschei, The Deathless One, begins to feel very real. Kolya sets out on a journey through dense, haunting forests and across vast plains against the bitter winter, in the desperate hope he will find his wife and two boys - and find them alive. But there are very dark things in Kolya's past. And, as he strives to find his family, there's someone - or something - following his trail...
"Starred Review. Luminous prose complements the compelling plot." - Publishers Weekly
"Red Winter is filled with suspense, bloodshed, and vividly drawn characters, and offers a strong sense of the tragic arc of modern Russian history." - Booklist
"Although the hero's guilt becomes nearly as burdensome to the plot as to him, Smith (The Child Thief, 2013, etc.) adeptly builds both characterization and suspense in Nikolai's race to find his family before his former comrades find him. - Kirkus
"A superbly shivery atmosphere." - The Times (UK)
"Showing the same skills that he exercised in The Child Thief, Smith has fashioned a story of page-turning intensity." - The Sunday Times (UK)
This information about Red Winter was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Among other novels, Dan Smith is the author of The Child Thief. He lives in Newcastle with his family. Find out more about Dan, his novels, and the places that inspire them at www.dansmithbooks.com
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