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The Winter of the World
A heartbreaking and powerful story of personal demons and the hard journey back from an abyss of betrayal in the aftermath of World War I Journalist Alex Dyer made his name covering the bloody horrors of the European trenches. Yet even after the Great War is over, he cannot shake the guilt he feels for not serving on the front lines like his dearest childhood friend, Ted Eden. Worse still, Alex cannot put to rest the emotions that gnaw at him from the his feelings for Clare, Ted's wife—a woman they both have loved more than life itself. A masterful debut novel from the acclaimed author of The Hidden Life of Otto Frank , Carol Ann Lee's Winter of the World combines fascinating historical detail and color with breathtaking invention. Recalling the fire of the battlefield and the nightmare of the trenches, it brilliantly evokes a volatile time when life was frozen in the present tense and looking forward was the only thing more painful than looking back.
319 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 17, 2018
A moving story of love and loss
A beauty written story of love and loss during the Great War. I was hooked from the very beginning. I actually sobbed when I learned the identity of the honored person being taken to his burial.
A beauty written story of love and loss during the Great War. I was hooked from the very beginning. I actually sobbed when I learned the identity of the honored person being taken to his burial.
November 30, 2025
3'5 <3
Una pena porque algunas partes del libro, en especial las que detallan el horror de las trincheras, las grandes batallas y las secuelas de la Gran Guerra, son sublimes. Ojalá poder obviar por completo el triángulo amoroso.
Una pena porque algunas partes del libro, en especial las que detallan el horror de las trincheras, las grandes batallas y las secuelas de la Gran Guerra, son sublimes. Ojalá poder obviar por completo el triángulo amoroso.
August 30, 2011
I was very lucky to find this book whilst doing some photocopying and picking up another book at my local library. The book caught my eye because of the dress on the cover. It is the era that I'm researching, a very fascinating time - 1920/21. It's a sort of No Man's Land itself. It's after the war but not yet the twenties of the flappers and the bright young things. They are both a few years later for the most part and Lee has captured this in between time so well.
As a writer who does a lot of research and believes in details, details, details - Lee's research is impeccable. I marvel at all the details she weaves unobtrusively into her prose. Her landcape descriptions particularly are wonderful. There’s descriptions of the devastated French and Belgian fields after the war and also specific battlefields, as well as staff headquarters and a number of towns that were bombarded during that time. I really loved the London café that the two main characters meet at – Lampadusa’s I think its called. (I no longer have the book with me). My only criticsm would be a few lines of Claire’s dialogue were to my mind slightly unbelievable and one or two of the Albino gravedigger’s as well. The novel’s opening chapter describing the arrival of the coffin of the Unknown Warrior was incredibly well-written.
Anxiously awaiting her next novel. Highly recommended for anyone that is interested in WWI
As a writer who does a lot of research and believes in details, details, details - Lee's research is impeccable. I marvel at all the details she weaves unobtrusively into her prose. Her landcape descriptions particularly are wonderful. There’s descriptions of the devastated French and Belgian fields after the war and also specific battlefields, as well as staff headquarters and a number of towns that were bombarded during that time. I really loved the London café that the two main characters meet at – Lampadusa’s I think its called. (I no longer have the book with me). My only criticsm would be a few lines of Claire’s dialogue were to my mind slightly unbelievable and one or two of the Albino gravedigger’s as well. The novel’s opening chapter describing the arrival of the coffin of the Unknown Warrior was incredibly well-written.
Anxiously awaiting her next novel. Highly recommended for anyone that is interested in WWI
May 31, 2011
World War I is one of my favorite periods for historical fiction. There are so many different points of view for an author to tell a story, and it's rare that you'll read the same story twice.
Carol Ann Lee begins The Winter of the World two years after Armistice Day, at the burial of the Unknown Warrior. After this extremely moving scene (which she says she drew from actual footage), we're taken back to Ypres, where journalist Alex Dyer is writing about the conversion of the battlegrounds of Europe into proper cemeteries. He accompanies a man named Lombardi, who has a gift for drawing out secrets. Over the course of an evening, Alex relates his war experience, his frustration over not being able to fight and not being able to report the truth, and his guilt over the affair he had with his best friend Ted's wife, Clare. With Lombardi's help, Alex finds a way to redemption and, possibly, back to love.
There were two things I really loved about this novel. The first was seeing the war from Alex's point of view. Any history class you take on World War I will touch on censorship and propaganda, and it was great to get a human spin on what was a very difficult situation. There was a particularly powerful scene where the journalists argued over one writer's story that was spun to make the Germans look like godless monsters and, therefore, inspire fear and hatred at home; it really brought forward the ethical issues that journalists confronted with each story they sent for print.
The second was Ms. Lee's emotional depiction of the selection, ceremony, and burial of the Unknown Warrior. It transported me right back to the event, and I could visualize very clearly the line of people waiting at Westminster Abbey all night to pay their respects to the man who could have been their son, husband, brother, or friend.
The affair between Clare and Alex is the other major plot of the novel, and the relationship is passionate and volatile, as it should be when two people feel an instant connection but, in order to satisfy that connection, they have to betray someone they both love. It's as much a part of their war story as their respective experiences in the field and continues to haunt them after they've returned home. Ms. Lee leaves their end very slightly ambiguous, but I think it's pretty clear what they decide to do.
The Winter of the World is a beautifully written World War I story that belongs on the shelf next to your Charles Todd, Jacqueline Winspear, and Anne Perry novels. I highly recommend it.
Carol Ann Lee begins The Winter of the World two years after Armistice Day, at the burial of the Unknown Warrior. After this extremely moving scene (which she says she drew from actual footage), we're taken back to Ypres, where journalist Alex Dyer is writing about the conversion of the battlegrounds of Europe into proper cemeteries. He accompanies a man named Lombardi, who has a gift for drawing out secrets. Over the course of an evening, Alex relates his war experience, his frustration over not being able to fight and not being able to report the truth, and his guilt over the affair he had with his best friend Ted's wife, Clare. With Lombardi's help, Alex finds a way to redemption and, possibly, back to love.
There were two things I really loved about this novel. The first was seeing the war from Alex's point of view. Any history class you take on World War I will touch on censorship and propaganda, and it was great to get a human spin on what was a very difficult situation. There was a particularly powerful scene where the journalists argued over one writer's story that was spun to make the Germans look like godless monsters and, therefore, inspire fear and hatred at home; it really brought forward the ethical issues that journalists confronted with each story they sent for print.
The second was Ms. Lee's emotional depiction of the selection, ceremony, and burial of the Unknown Warrior. It transported me right back to the event, and I could visualize very clearly the line of people waiting at Westminster Abbey all night to pay their respects to the man who could have been their son, husband, brother, or friend.
The affair between Clare and Alex is the other major plot of the novel, and the relationship is passionate and volatile, as it should be when two people feel an instant connection but, in order to satisfy that connection, they have to betray someone they both love. It's as much a part of their war story as their respective experiences in the field and continues to haunt them after they've returned home. Ms. Lee leaves their end very slightly ambiguous, but I think it's pretty clear what they decide to do.
The Winter of the World is a beautifully written World War I story that belongs on the shelf next to your Charles Todd, Jacqueline Winspear, and Anne Perry novels. I highly recommend it.
December 29, 2007
The Winter of the World, a bit slow at times, had a lot of intriguing parts. I don't think I have ever read of such an instant spark between two people (such as between the war correspondent, Alex, and his best friend's fiancee, Clare)! The characters are all very interesting people, but in the British sense, they keep a lot of their feelings bottled up. Ted is the sweet and too-good guy, that you know will end up dead. Alex is the thinker, the one who is laden with guilt for choosing the easy way out by letting other peoople fight while he writes, and laden with guilt for loving his best friend's wife. And then there is Clare, at the center of everything, troubled from her childhood and the tremendous burden of being a nurse on the front line, and troubled from loving two men.
The war parts are especially gruesome and horrific. I had read about WWI in the past, but this book brought it to life with new horrors. I had never thought about whatever became of the bodies of those who had lost their lives on the front. Did you know they are still there, buried beneath farms and roads? The chapter "The Tin Nose Factory" was a terrible statement about those who were disfigured in battle. There was no honor left for those men.
The war parts are especially gruesome and horrific. I had read about WWI in the past, but this book brought it to life with new horrors. I had never thought about whatever became of the bodies of those who had lost their lives on the front. Did you know they are still there, buried beneath farms and roads? The chapter "The Tin Nose Factory" was a terrible statement about those who were disfigured in battle. There was no honor left for those men.
November 1, 2019
I was a bit confused while reading this book, too many characters! At one point Alex became a SIR and i don't remember reading that at all. hmmmmmmmmmm
Anyway with 3 main characters I focused mainly on them and their choices. With war going on they couldn't figure out what was more important....love, friendship, marriage. I got the vapors.
So if u need something to read on the cheap, go for it.
Anyway with 3 main characters I focused mainly on them and their choices. With war going on they couldn't figure out what was more important....love, friendship, marriage. I got the vapors.
So if u need something to read on the cheap, go for it.
January 13, 2020
Incredibly moving story of the horrors of World War 1 tied to the British Unknown Warrior brought to Westminster Abbey. Heavily detailed and takes the reader to mud and chaos of the struggle.
June 18, 2008
Set in France and England during WWI, this book switches around its viewpoints, mostly between a man (a journalist) and a woman (a nurse.) I found myself skimming the journalist's sections. His voice seems impersonal, dry, unreal, even when he is revealing his passion for his best friend's wife. And said passion is written in the breathless approach of a romance novel (or what I guess that would be, having never read a romance novel). The old "I was struck dumb the moment I saw her" approach.
The sections from the nurse's POV ring more true. But still, I was not motivated to finish this book, and happily took it back to the library so I could move on to other things.
The sections from the nurse's POV ring more true. But still, I was not motivated to finish this book, and happily took it back to the library so I could move on to other things.
February 18, 2014
I didn't much care for this book. I thought the romance part of the book was good, but it seemed like most of the description of the war was pretty boring, and usually I really like books about war. Clare seemed like a strange character to me. I found myself skipping ahead through several sections and it still took me a long time to read. I was disappointed at the ending. Maybe I didn't give the book a good enough chance-- Debbie, let me know what you think when you are done.
February 4, 2016
I loved the pace of this novel, the historical, graphic detail of the WW1 battles around Ypres and the connection between the opening and closing. Adding in a love story and a poignant ending that leaves the reader to fill in the gaps made this an excellent read for me.
July 29, 2008
It's not the best written novel, but it did just fine for a 3-hour plane ride. Also, the descriptions of the battlefield and the exploration of Alex's guilt were good.
May 10, 2012
begraven als een koning: adembenemende roman over vriendschap en liefde tijdens de eerste wereldoorlog
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews