A Meal in Winter - by Hubert Mingarelli (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"The book's deceptive directness and simplicity, and its muted undercurrents of horror, will make many think of . . . Ernest Hemingway. [P]ainful, unconsoling reading . . . a reminder of the power a short, perfect work of fiction can wield." -Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

This timeless short novel begins one morning in the dead of winter, during the darkest years of World War II, with three German soldiers heading out into the frozen Polish countryside. They have been charged by their commanders with tracking down and bringing back for execution "one of them"--a Jew. Having flushed out a young man hiding in the woods, they decide to rest in an abandoned house before continuing their journey back to the camp. As they prepare food, they are joined by a passing Pole whose virulent anti-Semitism adds tension to an already charged atmosphere. Before long, the group's sympathies begin to splinter when each man is forced to confront his own conscience as the moral implications of their murderous mission become clear.

Described by Ian McEwan as "sparse, beautiful and shocking," A Meal in Winter is a "stark and profound" work by a Booker Prize-nominated author (The New York Times).

"Sustains tension until the very last page." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Review Quotes

"Stark and profound."
-New York Times

"Fine reading, not just for those interested in the war."
-Library Journal

"The command of tone and voice sustains tension until the very last page of a novel that will long resonate in the reader's conscience."
-Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"Masterful. . . . Mingarelli offers a new twist on the Holocaust novel. His spare prose, crisply translated by Sam Taylor, adds to the narrative's intensity and keeps you turning the pages until its poignant conclusion."
-The Huffington Post

"It is 138 profound pages of horror and humanity."
-Book of the Year, the Irish Times

"Short, powerful, vivid, and utterly compelling."
-The Jewish Chronicle

"Brilliant, devastating, [and] compelling."
-Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs

"Haunting. . . . With devastating concision, Mingarelli and his translator, Sam Taylor, carry the moral dilemma to an understated yet stunning conclusion."
-Publishers Weekly (starred)

"The 'banality of evil' finds beautiful, spare expression in this remarkable novella."
-Ian McEwan

"A luminous tale. . . . The most moving book I have read for a long time."
-The Independent on Sunday

"A masterpiece."
-The Independent

"This strong and simple story packs a mighty punch."
-The Times (London)

"Beautiful and disturbing, complex and surprising. . . . This is not easy for the reader to handle, but Mingarelli knows what he is doing."
-The Herald (Glasgow)

About the Author