Red Winter

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A Maxim Jakubowski selected title.

British author Smith returns to post revolution Russia with a bleak tale in which a Red Army desertor returns to his village to find it devastated and his family gone. Is the work of men or the devil? His chase for the truth takes him across snowy plains and forests while he holds his own secrets back. Impressively atmospheric, and on a par with his wonderful, earlier Russian-snow-set THE CHILD THIEF, this will keep you awake at night.

Reviewed by Maxim Jakubowski
Maxim Jakubowski is a London-based novelist and editor.
More reviews by Maxim Jakubowski

About Red Winter

The chilling, sophisticated new historical thriller from the acclaimed writer of THE CHILD THIEF.'A superbly shivery atmosphere' THE TIMES'A gripping thriller' SUNDAY TIMESRussia, 1920. 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 community the folk tales mothers tell their children by candlelight take on powerful significance and the terrifying legend of The Deathless One begins to feel very real. Kolya sets out on a journey through dense, haunting forests and across vast plains as bitter winter sets in, in the desperate hope he will find his family. But there are very dark things in his past - and there's someone, or something, on his trail...

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