Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Boy in Winter
Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
22 posts | 15 read | 26 to read
Early on a grey November morning in 1941, only weeks after the German invasion, a small Ukrainian town is overrun by the SS. This new novel from the award-winning author of the Booker Prize short-listed The Dark Room tells of the three days that follow and the lives that are overturned in the process.Penned in with his fellow Jews, under threat of deportation, Ephraim anxiously awaits word of his two sons, missing since daybreak. Come in search of her lover, to fetch him home again, away from the invaders, Yasia must confront new and harsh truths about those closest to her. Here to avoid a war he considers criminal, German engineer Otto Pohl is faced with an even greater crime unfolding behind the lines, and no one but himself to turn to. And in the midst of it all is Yankel, a boy determined to survive this. But to do so, he must throw in his lot with strangers. As their stories mesh, each of Rachel Seiffert's characters comes to know the compromises demanded by survival, the oppressive power of fear, and the possibility of courage in the face of terror. Rich with a rare compassion and emotional depth, A Boy in Winter is a story of hope when all is lost and of mercy when the times have none.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
tokyoseg
Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
Mehso-so

I was looking for a strong holocaust story, but unfortunately this wasn‘t it. It was okay, but felt very unfinished and there were a few characters presented without actual focus on any to feel much connection.

blurb
Pricel101
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image

1. Snuggly dog & snooty cat 😼🐶🤦‍♀️
2. Farmers market to buy dinner, drink at the pub, bath & read!
3. Painting, colouring, decoupage. Everything artsy 👩‍🎨
4. Labrador, The Rocky Mountains, Vancouver 🇨🇦
5. Who‘s your fave Girl Hero of fiction, TV or film?!

@howjessreads #friyayintro

monalyisha Buffy. 🖤⚰️ 6y
Lauredhel Right now I'm super into Squirrel Girl and Ms Marvel. 6y
DebbieGrillo Claire Randall-Fraser and Diana Bishop 6y
18 likes4 comments
blurb
BookishTrish
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image

Saturday nights be like

review
rachelwill
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image
Mehso-so

Book 26: A fine read for a long train journey. Interesting story, nicely woven character arcs but nothing ground breaking here for me...

(Some very elaborate reviews chosen for the cover art...!)

review
scowler1
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image
Pickpick

Two young boys in Ukraine try to escape the Nazis while the rest of the town's Jews are rounded up in a cattle shed. Moving, enlightening, exciting, terrifying, heart-warming. It's all here and it's all good.

Cinfhen Not familiar with this book, but I see I‘ve already stacked it! 6y
8 likes1 comment
review
reiko
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
Mehso-so

I liked Dark Room better.

review
rmaclean4
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image
Mehso-so

This read to me almost like a YA novel. It was paced well...but it felt almost simplistic in its style. A solid read, but not more for me.

BarbaraBB Too bad. I was meaning to read this because I loved 7y
BarbaraBB ... but now I‘ll postpone that! 7y
12 likes2 comments
blurb
rmaclean4
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image

I love early sunday morning reading!

blurb
rmaclean4
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image

Next up! I have heard some rough reviews of this one. #womensprizeforfiction2018

14 likes1 stack add
review
EliNeedsMoreShelves
Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image
Pickpick

For me, this book was about the choices people make when all their options could lead to disaster. It was about the situations in which good people are left with horrible decisions. And, sometimes, the ways that good is accomplished, almost in spite of itself. This was a good one. #EliReadsTheWomensPrize

quote
charl08
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image

Grim reading.

charl08 10 now read from the Women's Fiction longlist www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk 7y
33 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
AmberWB
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image
Pickpick

@Booksnchill recommended this one to me a few weeks ago when I was looking for books about German occupation during WW2- and I‘m glad she did. This was so much different than a lot of WW2 fiction I‘ve read, starting with the fact that it was set in Ukraine during the German advance & occupation. What struck me most about this book was that Nazi soldiers weren‘t portrayed as evil monsters- but as humans, following orders they did not like CONT‘D 👇

AmberWB Or agree with. Seiffert did an excellent job building suspense, anxiety and dread throughout the novel. Definitely recommend. 7y
Booksnchill Glad you enjoyed it! 7y
18 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
emilyhaldi
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image

Today was my first time picking up holds from the #library! I love being able to add books to my que online as they come up... instead of adding them to my Amazon cart 😅
#readingresolutions

EvieBee Nice! Welcome! I get the same feeling when I pick up a stack from the library as when I open an Amazon package. (edited) 7y
LiteraryinPA Welcome to the wonderful world of library holds! It‘s so exciting! My pattern is going to pick up my holds and then also finding things on the shelves that I must take home. ☺️ 7y
JoScho Libraries are the best and just think about how much you are saving 😊 7y
See All 10 Comments
Centique Library holds coming in is such a buzz! Great pic too by the way 😍 7y
BittersweetBooks Amen!! 🙌🏻 7y
BarbaraBB Great haul. I‘d love to keep them after reading 😂 7y
melbeautyandbooks Yes it‘s a great feeling! My library has a drive through, which makes it even easier to get my haul. 7y
BookMaven407 Agreed! I'm trying to get better at checking books out from the library this year. Although, I did just purchase 7y
Cinfhen Better than a trip to #DisneyLand💚 7y
Reviewsbylola I always mean to use the library more. 7y
126 likes10 comments
blurb
SharonGoforth
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image

Sunday afternoon reading on my Kindle. Can‘tput it down. #thewomensprizelonglist2018 #ebook #currentlyreading

review
Nitpickyabouttrains
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image
Mehso-so

It can be hard to judge World War Two novels, as there are so many stories and perspectives out there. This one was well written but felt like it went over very well trodden territory.

quote
Miss_Kim
Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert

“Where the light shines strongest, there is always shadow.” Pg 129

quote
Miss_Kim
Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image

My favourite parts of many books is the epigraph... It often hides a secret meaning, which I love to look for in the reading.

review
Lindy
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image
Pickpick

Q: Why another novel about the Holocaust?
A: Mass exterminations on the German-occupied Eastern Front are not common knowledge.
A: Prejudice, fear & apathy are as relevant today as then. Briefly, indelibly, we enter the lives and minds of individuals—SS officer, civilian road engineer, a pair of courting Ukrainian peasants, a Jewish family headed by a lens crafter—it is individual people who do things, or don‘t, are murdered, show mercy. ❤️

Cinfhen #neverForget thanks for the reminder #stacked 7y
Lindy @Cinfhen It‘s heartbreaking and yet hopeful. 7y
Suet624 Great review. Just finished reading and your review was perfect. 7y
Lindy @Suet624 ☺️ 7y
48 likes5 stack adds4 comments
blurb
Lindy
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image

Concurrently reading two poignant novels set in World War 2 Europe, both by authors with grandparents who were German Nazis.

Mdargusch That‘s an interesting premise that I️ haven‘t read before! 7y
Lindy @Mdargusch I‘ve been thinking about that as I think about how to review it. Very impressive book. 7y
41 likes1 stack add2 comments
quote
Lindy
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image

Myko was certain. Yasia felt it in the way he held her and in the way he leaned in to her: ‘We had the Soviets, remember? Well now we have new masters. And your father, he might think well of them. But it will be just the same—just the same—under this new lot, I‘m telling you.‘
[…]
‘First they will make their promises. But it won‘t be too long before they break them all. That‘s how it works, believe me. No one takes a land out of kindness.‘

34 likes1 stack add
blurb
shawnmooney
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image

You knew I would, didn't you? 😍

LeahBergen Yes!!! 😍 7y
45 likes1 comment
blurb
shawnmooney
A Boy in Winter | Rachel Seiffert
post image

I bet I'm not the only one who's going to read this one sooner rather than later – the novel comes out in August, and centers around a young Jewish boy in Ukraine as the Nazis overrun the country in 1941. That cover photo!

saresmoore 💔 7y
andrew61 The dark room waa so good not only does this make me want to reread it but also find this new book. 7y
shawnmooney @andrew61 Oooh, if you liked it, I probably will too – our tastes are so similar! 7y
See All 6 Comments
Suet624 Did you read this book yet? 7y
shawnmooney @Suet624 Not yet, but probably soon, as I‘m hoping it might be the one deserving book on the Women‘s Prize long list! :-) You? 7y
Suet624 Just finished it and am conflicted about how I feel. 😁 I like what Lindy had to say about it but it didn‘t grab me. 7y
43 likes1 stack add6 comments