The Winter Guest: The perfect chilling, gripping mystery as the nights draw in

Product Information

To begin with, the first chapter (after the introduction) sets the story in 1940. And then Sam Rosen shows up. Sam is a downed American airman in the Polish countryside.

An investigation in 2013 starts the book and then the story unfolds as one of the characters remembers the events, but at the end I didn't really see the significance of this investigation and why it was a big deal. There were other things that could have been investigated that might have had a more emotional response from the readers. While identical in outward appearance, Helena and Ruth are actually as different as chalk and cheese. Helena is a bit of a tomboy and was her father’s companion of choice when it came to hunting expeditions and performing tasks around the home. Ruth has always been regarded as the prettier of the two and is the one imbued with the more traditionally feminine traits – so the pair has fallen into the roles of male and female parents, with Ruth responsible for running the home and the bulk of the child-rearing, while Helena chops wood, fixes things, and hunts for food.Their lives are harsh. Due to the shortages of food they are constantly starving, they struggle to clothe themselves and their growing siblings. Ruth is the homemaker, caring for everyone whilst Helena has taken on a more “hunter gatherer” role, providing for everyone. The sisters have quite a complex relationship. They love each other, yes, but they are not quite friends, and there is an undercurrent of resentment throughout the book from Ruth.

The Anglo-Irish community had their homes burned from under them by the IRA in a bid to remove ‘the foreigners’ and return the land to the Irish who were tenants on their own soil. Poverty was rife within the cities but was very much more evident in the rural communities.Tom Harkin is determined in his quest for the truth behind Maud’s death. He crosses paths with some very unpleasant characters and his search takes him on an unexpected and dangerous journey. The descriptions of the crumbling walls and shadows of Kilcolgan House are sharply depicted giving the reader a true sense of life for the Anglo-Irish during these senseless and sorrowful times. Working undercover, Harkin must delve into the house’s secrets – and discover where, in this fractured, embattled town, each family member’s allegiances truly lie. But Harkin too is haunted by the ghosts of the past and by his terrible experiences on the battlefields. Can he find out the truth about Maud’s death before the past – and his strange, unnerving surroundings – overwhelm him? The accurate history and the events that unfolds makes this book gloomy and the writing makes it somber. Then Helena discovers an American paratrooper stranded outside their small mountain village, wounded, but alive. Risking the safety of herself and her family, she hides Sam--a Jew--but Helena's concern for the American grows into something much deeper. Defying the perils that render a future together all but impossible, Sam and Helena make plans for the family to flee. But Helena is forced to contend with the jealousy her choices have sparked in Ruth, culminating in a singular act of betrayal that endangers them all--and setting in motion a chain of events that will reverberate across continents and decades. Life is a constant struggle for the eighteen-year-old Nowak twins as they raise their three younger siblings in rural Poland under the shadow of the Nazi occupation. The constant threat of arrest has made everyone in their village a spy, and turned neighbor against neighbor. Though rugged, independent Helena and pretty, gentle Ruth couldn't be more different, they are staunch allies in protecting their family from the threats the war brings closer to their doorstep with each passing day.

Perhaps a lukewarm or even an aimless plot can be excused if were to be redeemed by another facet of the novel. This, however, was not the case. The writing is hardly refined artistry; in fact, it’s amateur. The setting is key. Isolated from the rest of the country, like many rural Poles, Helena and Ruth struggle for daily survival among food rationing, suspicious neighbors, and the looming threat of winter. Their mother lies dying in a Jewish hospital in Krakow — the only place that can care for her — and stalwart Helena makes the long trek to the city every week to visit her, while introspective Ruth stays behind to tend the children, nursing a recent heartbreak. Then Helena stumbles upon an injured American paratrooper in the woods and decides to hide him; this act of mercy sets the stage for a passionate affair and betrayal that changes the sisters’ lives forever.One would think that with a storyline like this it would be a really emotional and interesting read. Unfortunately it was flat and emotionless. The conversation were dull and the actions were slow. Some of the events that happens deserved a better reaction from me but I just didn't feel. I couldn't feel the romance or any sympathy towards the characters, except maybe for Helena at times. Cari lettori, accogliamo il ritorno di questa bravissima autrice con un’ovazione e tuffiamoci nella storia ambientata nella Polonia invasa dai nazisti, in un piccolo paese ai confini di un bosco dove in una casa solitaria vivono le gemelle, Ruth e Helena, con due sorelline più piccole e un fratello. It did make good, interesting reading and I wanted to see what happened, although at times it was a little unbelievable. For example, getting in touch with the resistance itself was a little too easy to be believed. There are events that happen after the end of the main story which are only revealed in the epilogue, almost as one liners really. Although these events wrap up the story well, they just did not have that ring of believability to them.

I loved this story because it features two equally strong women as its protagonists, something less often seen in historical fiction than I would like. Jenoff is an excellent historical storyteller; her novels truly capture the hardships faced by mostly ordinary people in wartime. In particular, the overwhelming hunger comes across throughout her writing in this book. Reading this story made me consider the plight of the Polish community during the war, a country sometimes forgotten in history. Eighteen year old twins Helena and Ruth are struggling. It is Poland, 1940. With their father dead and their mother institutionalised, they are left to jointly raise their younger siblings while desperately trying to ward off starvation and the harsh winters. When Helena comes across a young soldier stranded when his plane crashes, they begin a clandestine relationship and she gradually falls in love with the handsome American. The sibling rivalry between Ruth and Helena is very well-written, and actually feels quite true-to-life in that sometimes, their petty jealousies eclipse the bigger picture for both of them. When Helena has to tell Ruth about Sam, Ruth immediately thinks that Helena is planning to leave with him, and in her determination not to let that happen, sets in motion a train of events that will have tragic consequences.Un paracadutista, l’americano di religione ebrea Sam, atterra con il suo aereo tra i monti sopra la piccola casa. There are two boys walking by the frozen sea. It is a schoolday,but they have stayed away, and no one will look for them here. They are Sam(Douglas Murphy) and Tom ( Sean Biggerstaff), and the emptiness of the town andthe quiet of the weekday have made them a little more serious than theyplanned; they look about 12 or 13, and tentatively talk about more seriousthings than they would have six months ago. Then Helena discovers an American paratrooper stranded outside their small mountain village, wounded, but alive. Risking the safety of herself and her family, she hides Sam—a Jew—but Helena’s concern for the American grows into something much deeper. Defying the perils that render a future together all but impossible, Sam and Helena make plans for the family to flee. But Helena is forced to contend with the jealousy her choices have sparked in Ruth, culminating in a singular act of betrayal that endangers them all—and setting in motion a chain of events that will reverberate across continents and decades. A stirring novel of first love in a time of war and the unbearable choices that could tear sisters apart, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan's Tale Vita dura, cibo scarso e tanta fame danno poco spazio alle due giovani donne che lottano con le unghie e con i denti per tenere uniti i loro cari.