Winters in the South - Couverture souple

The latest novel from the celebrated Austrian author Norbert Gstrein is a beautifully written account of the lives of an estranged father and daughter of Croatian origin, both in exile since the Second World War. When both independently decide to return to Zagreb, now itself in the throes of its own war, they will have to face not just their past, but the full extent of the lies and deceits that have so far prevented their reunion. Gstrein's sensitive and skilful narrative alternates between the story of these two individuals, both haunted by their past, both unsure of the present they have stumbled into. But while the daughter battles feelings of loneliness and betrayal, her father cares only for fighting for his former homeland. Played out against the tense backdrop of the terrible conflict of 1990s Yugoslavia, Winters in the South is permeated throughout with a sense of unease, of things not quite reaching their expected conclusions. This is a book that will linger in the mind long after the last page is turned.