JULY 2014 - AudioFile
Simon Prebble narrates this chilly tale with an authority that draws listeners into the uncomfortable world of Moscow's elite as WWII draws to an end. The celebrations of peace in Europe are dramatically cut short with the shooting of two teenagers. The ensuing investigation could almost touch on farce but for the associated horror and the fact that most of the important plotlines are apparently based on fact. Prebble gives the characters a richness and depth that make it natural to connect with them or recoil in shock at their brutality. This is a story of contrasts in many senses, but Prebble’s narration ensures that at the conclusion we understand that love, not terror, is its theme. K.J.P. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
As Stalin twists the Children’s Case to his own ends, the truly magnetic power of One Night in Winter becomes clear. The stirring of our deepest fears and their unexpected resolution—at this, Montefiore is the master.” — Washington Post
“Enthralling…. Mr. Montefiore, an English writer hailed for his works of history and biography, is masterly at sketching scenes (passionate, melancholy or menacing) and limning characters…” — Wall Street Journal
“This finely written chronicle of privileged adults and children afraid for their lives in the treacherous upper reaches of Stalin’s Russia in 1945 is in a league of its own.” — Wall Street Journal, “Best Books of 2014”
“Compulsively involving. Our fear for the children keeps up turning the pages…. We follow the passions with sympathy... The knot of events tugs at a wide range of emotions rarely experienced outside an intimate tyranny.” — The Times (London)
“A gripping thriller about private life and poetic dreams in Stalin’s Russia…. [A] pageturner….Whether its subject is power or love, a darkly enjoyable read — Guardian (London)
“This tightly written page-turner crackles with authenticity and if you are wiping away a tear by the end it won’t be the icy chill of the Soviet winter that’s to blame.” — Caroline Jowett, Daily Express (London)
“Sebag’s new novel draws in the reader and renders time meaningless. Brilliantly depicted.” — Jewish Chronicle
“A novel full of passion, conspiracy, hope, despair, suffering and redemption….One Night in Winter is a gripping read and must surely be one of the best novels of 2013.” — Steve Emmett, New York Journal of Books
“Addictive, uplifting and terrifying.” — A. D. Miller, author of Snowdrops
“Sudden, mysterious arrests. Brutal interrogations. The crushing of any hint of antigovernment thought. Constant, stomach-churning terror. Such is the reality of Stalinist Russia evoked so convincingly by Montefiore..… This is a gripping, fast-moving tale of love, fear, sacrifice, and survival.” — Booklist
“Montefiore…does an excellent job of portraying the paralyzing tension of powerful high-ranking Soviet officials who are powerless to protect their own families…. Highly recommended reading for fans of thrillers, historical fiction, and history.” — Library Journal
“Engrossing…. A mix of lovestory, thriller and historical fiction. Montefiore’s knowledge of the period helps him bring 1945 Moscow to bleak, fascinating life” — The Observer (London)
“Montefiore writes brilliantly about love, timeless dilemmas, family devotion teenage romance and the grand passion of adultery. Readers of Sebastian Faulks and Hilary Mantel will lap this up.” — Mail on Sunday (London), Novel of the Week
“A thrilling work of fiction. Montefiore weaves a tight, satisfying plot, delivering surprises to the last page. Stalin’s chilling charisma is brilliantly realised. The novel’s theme is Love: family love, youthful romance, adulterous passion. One Night in Winter is full of redemptive love and inner freedom.” — Evening Standard (London)
“Seriously good fun…the Soviet march on Berlin, nightmarish drinking games at Stalin’s country house, the magnificence of the Bolshoi, interrogations, snow, sex and exile…lust, adultery, and romance. Eminently readable and strangely affecting.” — The Sunday Telegraph
“Not just a thumpingly good read, but also essentially a story of human fragility and passions.” — The National
“What happens when you cross Donna Tartt’s The Secret History with one of the scariest times in Russian history? You end up with Simon Sebag Montefiore’s One Night in Winter….Based in truth, this novel will keep you biting your nails until the very end.” — BooksAndWhatNot.com
“Delicately plotted and buried within a layered, elliptical narrative, One Night in Winter is also a … page-turner which adroitly weaves a huge cast of characters into an arcane world.” — Time Out London
“A compelling read.” — The Independent, (London)
“Gripping and cleverly plotted. Doomed love at the heart of a violent society is the heart of Montefiore’s One Night in Winter.. depicting the Kafkaesque labyrinth into which the victims stumble.” — Sunday Times(London)
“A tense historical thriller set in a beautifully crafted world…. Moscow in 1945 comes alive in a wholly believable fashion…. A masterpiece of modern historical fiction.” — Sunday Mail (Scotland)
“Snuggle up in front of the fire with a glass of red and this captivating story. A dark enigmatic thriller... the way [Montefiore] weaves fiction and history is a true gift.” — Marie Claire (UK)
“A novel of passion, fear, bravery, suffering and survival…. Its success is helped by Montefiore’s pitch-perfect reconstruction of the golden tightrope that Moscow’s elite walked under Stalin.” — The Spectator
“In this engrossing novel, the setting is the USSR shortly after the end of the Second World War.... As Simon Sebag Montefiore explains in an afterword, this is based on similar real events, and certainly his ease with the setting and certain historical characters is masterly....” — Scotsman
“A kind of Virgin Suicides for the Soviet set, speaking to much that’s dark in the human soul—but to what can redeem it, too.” — Kirkus Reviews
Jewish Chronicle
Sebag’s new novel draws in the reader and renders time meaningless. Brilliantly depicted.
Guardian (London)
A gripping thriller about private life and poetic dreams in Stalin’s Russia…. [A] pageturner….Whether its subject is power or love, a darkly enjoyable read
Caroline Jowett
This tightly written page-turner crackles with authenticity and if you are wiping away a tear by the end it won’t be the icy chill of the Soviet winter that’s to blame.
A. D. Miller
Addictive, uplifting and terrifying.
Washington Post
As Stalin twists the Children’s Case to his own ends, the truly magnetic power of One Night in Winter becomes clear. The stirring of our deepest fears and their unexpected resolution—at this, Montefiore is the master.
Steve Emmett
A novel full of passion, conspiracy, hope, despair, suffering and redemption….One Night in Winter is a gripping read and must surely be one of the best novels of 2013.
Booklist
Sudden, mysterious arrests. Brutal interrogations. The crushing of any hint of antigovernment thought. Constant, stomach-churning terror. Such is the reality of Stalinist Russia evoked so convincingly by Montefiore..… This is a gripping, fast-moving tale of love, fear, sacrifice, and survival.
Wall Street Journal
Enthralling…. Mr. Montefiore, an English writer hailed for his works of history and biography, is masterly at sketching scenes (passionate, melancholy or menacing) and limning characters…
The Times (London)
Compulsively involving. Our fear for the children keeps up turning the pages…. We follow the passions with sympathy... The knot of events tugs at a wide range of emotions rarely experienced outside an intimate tyranny.
Booklist
Sudden, mysterious arrests. Brutal interrogations. The crushing of any hint of antigovernment thought. Constant, stomach-churning terror. Such is the reality of Stalinist Russia evoked so convincingly by Montefiore..… This is a gripping, fast-moving tale of love, fear, sacrifice, and survival.
Washington Post
As Stalin twists the Children’s Case to his own ends, the truly magnetic power of One Night in Winter becomes clear. The stirring of our deepest fears and their unexpected resolution—at this, Montefiore is the master.
Wall Street Journal
Enthralling…. Mr. Montefiore, an English writer hailed for his works of history and biography, is masterly at sketching scenes (passionate, melancholy or menacing) and limning characters…
Scotsman
In this engrossing novel, the setting is the USSR shortly after the end of the Second World War.... As Simon Sebag Montefiore explains in an afterword, this is based on similar real events, and certainly his ease with the setting and certain historical characters is masterly....
Sunday Times(London)
Gripping and cleverly plotted. Doomed love at the heart of a violent society is the heart of Montefiore’s One Night in Winter.. depicting the Kafkaesque labyrinth into which the victims stumble.
The Spectator
A novel of passion, fear, bravery, suffering and survival…. Its success is helped by Montefiore’s pitch-perfect reconstruction of the golden tightrope that Moscow’s elite walked under Stalin.
The Observer (London)
Engrossing…. A mix of lovestory, thriller and historical fiction. Montefiore’s knowledge of the period helps him bring 1945 Moscow to bleak, fascinating life
Mail on Sunday (London)
Montefiore writes brilliantly about love, timeless dilemmas, family devotion teenage romance and the grand passion of adultery. Readers of Sebastian Faulks and Hilary Mantel will lap this up.
Time Out London
Delicately plotted and buried within a layered, elliptical narrative, One Night in Winter is also a … page-turner which adroitly weaves a huge cast of characters into an arcane world.
The Sunday Telegraph
Seriously good fun…the Soviet march on Berlin, nightmarish drinking games at Stalin’s country house, the magnificence of the Bolshoi, interrogations, snow, sex and exile…lust, adultery, and romance. Eminently readable and strangely affecting.
The Independent
A compelling read.
Sunday Mail (Scotland)
A tense historical thriller set in a beautifully crafted world…. Moscow in 1945 comes alive in a wholly believable fashion…. A masterpiece of modern historical fiction.
BooksAndWhatNot.com
What happens when you cross Donna Tartt’s The Secret History with one of the scariest times in Russian history? You end up with Simon Sebag Montefiore’s One Night in Winter….Based in truth, this novel will keep you biting your nails until the very end.
The National
Not just a thumpingly good read, but also essentially a story of human fragility and passions.
Evening Standard (London)
A thrilling work of fiction. Montefiore weaves a tight, satisfying plot, delivering surprises to the last page. Stalin’s chilling charisma is brilliantly realised. The novel’s theme is Love: family love, youthful romance, adulterous passion. One Night in Winter is full of redemptive love and inner freedom.
Marie Claire (UK)
Snuggle up in front of the fire with a glass of red and this captivating story. A dark enigmatic thriller... the way [Montefiore] weaves fiction and history is a true gift.
The Wall Street Journal
Enthralling. In a league of its own.
The Washington Post
Truly magnetic. The stirring of our deepest fears and their unexpected resolution—at this, Montefiore is the master.
JULY 2014 - AudioFile
Simon Prebble narrates this chilly tale with an authority that draws listeners into the uncomfortable world of Moscow's elite as WWII draws to an end. The celebrations of peace in Europe are dramatically cut short with the shooting of two teenagers. The ensuing investigation could almost touch on farce but for the associated horror and the fact that most of the important plotlines are apparently based on fact. Prebble gives the characters a richness and depth that make it natural to connect with them or recoil in shock at their brutality. This is a story of contrasts in many senses, but Prebble’s narration ensures that at the conclusion we understand that love, not terror, is its theme. K.J.P. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2014-05-07
British historian Montefiore turns in his second novel, a foreboding tale of Soviet Russia based on actual events.Given that Montefiore is a biographer of The Boss (Young Stalin, 2007, etc.), it's fitting that, as in Anatoly Rybakov's Children of the Arbat—whose spirit looms over this book—Josef Stalin should appear as a central character in this odd drama. Less usual, perhaps, is that Stalin has sympathetic moments: Late in the story, we find him reclining on a sofa, smoking a cigarette and thinking of lost love: "If only there had been more love in my life, he thought despondently, but we Bolsheviks are a military-religious order like the Knights Templar." The romantic and slightly gloopy image suits the larger story, which concerns a class of well-heeled, privileged children who attend a school that's out of Dead Poets Society, if with pictures of Lenin instead of Lord Byron. Young Andrei Kurbsky, from out in the sticks of the Soviet Empire, doesn't share their high status, but, a devotee of Pushkin, he nonetheless is swallowed up in a floppy-haired beatnik-manqué clique that adores the Romantic poets. That's not such a smart move in an age when socialist realism is the only acceptable aesthetic, and Stalin—the sire of less-than-accomplished offspring, as we see—is as ruthless with the children of his own confidants as he is with his political enemies. Though the narrative lags at times, and though Montefiore sometimes inclines to the didactic ("The title ‘Comrade' means Rimm was a member of the Communist Party"), the storyline is unusual enough to keep things moving. The characters, too, are strong and believable, all careening toward a fateful day. Though his novel is based on history and told with a historian's concern for detail, Montefiore notes in an afterword that his is "not a novel about power but about private life—above all, love." Yet, of course, it's power that moves things to their grim conclusion.A kind of Virgin Suicides for the Soviet set, speaking to much that's dark in the human soul—but to what can redeem it, too.
