Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks
Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks. Published by Hutchinson Heinemann 2 September 2021
1914: Aspiring journalist Anton arrives in Vienna where he meets Delphine, a woman of experience and deep secrets. Entranced by the light of first love, Anton comes to life. Until his country declares war on hers.
1927: For Lena, life with her mother in a small town has been cosseted and cold. After a few years of schooling, she encounters a young lawyer who spirits her away to Vienna. However, what she imagines to be love soon crumbles, and she leaves the city behind to take a post at the snow-capped sanatorium, the Schloss Seeblick.
1933: Having lost many friends on the Eastern Front, 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.
Sweeping across Europe as it recovers from one war and awaits the coming of another, SNOW COUNTRY is a landmark novel of exquisite yearnings, dreams of youth and the sanctity of hope. In elegant, shimmering prose, Sebastian Faulks has produced an epic love story of timeless resonance.
My Review:
I purchased an author signed hardback direct from the publishers. My favourite Sebastian Faulks novels are Birdsong and Charlotte Gray and my least favourite is Human Traces so I was a bit worried that the psychological thread which put me off in Human Traces would also be a strong factor in this novel. However, it is better balanced as this is a more rounded work based around two timeframes- one pre-first world war and one post conflict with an account of the lives of the four main protagonists : Journalist Anton Heideck, his lover Delphine, lawyer and idealist, Rudolf Plischke and Lena, from a troubled background. After the upheaval of the war years Anton visits a sanatorium at Schloss Seeblick where Lena works, to research and write an article. However, he soon admits himself as a paying guest as he seeks to resolve the issues which trouble him, especially the loss of Delphine. To complicate matters Lena recalls Anton from a brief liaison and her friend, Rudolf is keen for her to move in with him back in Vienna but she is attracted to Anton although he fails to recognise her. Without giving away too much I found the historical background very interesting and the way the various relationship dilemmas played out held my interest until the end. The highlight for me were the descriptive passages of the snow bound lake and austere building of the sanatorium. The inmates appeared as a shadowy background, like ghosts, as the action slowly unfolded.
Richard Sorapure 