A lyrical and beautifully written book by Sebastian Faulkes, this took me a long time to get into but I was glad I persevered. Wonderfully descriptive with a great storyline.

Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks

Is there a science to love? How do the variables of personality, social background and circumstances affect our ability to find our soul mate? Vienna, in the early years of the 20th Century, a place of culture and learning; Freud and psychoanalysis. Europe is going from war, to tyranny and heading for war again. Into this turbulent world, fall Lena, Anton,Rudolph and Delphine; tossed emotionally and perhaps physically into this maelstrom. A pioneering, family -founded mountain retreat now run by Martha, offers space, peace and respite. A place where natural beauty and the new psychoanalytical science offer time to reflect on love and the reasons why it may or may not work out.

This is a complex novel, a slow burner which really picks up in the last quarter. This does however offer the chance for development of depth of characters and vivid sense of place. I am in awe of the care and research the author has put in to this book. I think a labour of love would be an apt description.

Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks is a deeply introspective novel set largely in Austria during the social and political upheaval of the first decades of the 20th century. It focuses on the lives and loves of Anton and Lena, both complex and sensitive characters with elaborately imagined thoughts, emotions, desires and mental health issues which are compassionately explored.

The book opens with a field operation to save the life of a solider injured in World War I – Anton. The physical and psychological scars he has developed are crucial to the unfolding of the story. The narrative then starts in the months leading up to the war with Anton as a journalist visiting and writing about the Panama Canal and the murder trial of Henriette Caulliux in Paris. He is obsessed with Delphine, a Frenchwoman who he believes to be the love of his life; but then their countries declare war on each other. Lena’s story begins in 1927 with flashbacks to her youth as the daughter of an alcoholic, impoverished mother and an absent Italian father. She meets a cheerful young lawyer and goes to live with him in Vienna – but the situation for her unfolds in unexpected ways.

The heart of the novel is in 1933 in Schloss Seeblick, a turn-of-the-century sanitorium near a snow-capped mountains and an ice-covered lake. Anton is sent to the Schloss to write an feature piece delving into Austrian psychiatry; Lena works there as a maid. The natural surroundings are vividly described and closely linked to the characters’ emotions; I was reminded of the Romantic Wordsworth’s Prelude and his vision of the impact nature has on the psyche.

Snow Country builds on the first book in a planned trilogy, Human Traces (2005); I haven’t read this yet and feel that the story would have been even more meaningful for me had I known more about the characters Thomas, Jacques and Sonia, and the evolution of modern psychiatry as portrayed in Human Traces. Nevertheless, the book stands on its own. I absolutely loved the strong, independent therapist Martha, daughter of Thomas, who gets Anton (and Lena) to open up.

At times the plot seems meandering but the detailed images and precisely imagined thoughts lead to a richly textured novel – and Faulks’s clever crafting brings various strands together in the end. It is a unique and poignant read which helps the reader to better understand what it means to be human.

I had not realised this book was the second of a trilogy, however I think that it can be read as a standalone. The book is set in Austria from 1914 to 1930s and the turmoil of European politics of that time influences the lives of the main characters. It is not clear until later in the book, how the background of these characters affects the events that unfold.
Anton a journalist, Lena a deprived young girl, Rudolf a young man from a wealthy background & Matilda who runs a clinic. These characters come together at different times with Lena as the common link. I enjoyed the underpinning of Freudian studies and how his theories were used to explain emotions and behaviours.
A good read.

This is a beautifully written book.
It's the first Sebastian Faulks I have read so I can't make comparisons with his others. It's the second in a series but worked as a stand-alone given that I hadn't read (or even heard of!) the first one.
I found it perhaps a little harder work than the books I normally choose but wanted to challenge myself and I did enjoy it, partly because I'm interested in that particular period of history. I'm not sure I'll be rushing out to buy the first (or the third) in the trilogy though. At times, I found it a little slow-moving, particularly in those sections where there was a lot of back story.

This is the second book in the planned Austrian trilogy but it can be read on its own which I have done. It is such a beautifully told story that I want to read them all now. The introductory part of this story will hopefully become clear by the end of the trilogy.
The characters from Anton right through to Lena are beautifully described and well rounded. Anton arrives in Vienna in 1906.He is just nineteen and we watch him grow and develop as an excellent journalist. The building of the Panama Canal he reports on is very interesting and well described. Europe is in a state of wariness as it goes from one war towards yet another
This is also the love story Anton and Lena whose background is well told and distressing in parts. Vienna is a beautiful city with a cosmopolitan and well portrayed in this story. At times you feel like you are there with them.
The whole book is a beautifully told portrayal of Austria with a hint of what will happen to the whole of Europe in the late 1930’s

Set in Austria, this novel spans the twenty-year period from the beginning of WW1 to the 1930s which saw increasing political turbulence after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Faulks skilfully transports the reader to Vienna and Trieste, where his two main protagonists Anton and Lena reside respectively. Anton, is a journalist who falls deeply in love with the enigmatic Delphine and, after surviving the war, fights a profound feeling of despair and hopelessness; Lena is the daughter of a single-parent, alcoholic mother, whose life changes dramatically after a chance encounter with political activist Rudolf. This novel was an immense pleasure to read as, not only is it beautifully written, it also conveys so well the atmosphere, politics and philosophical thinking of the period. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for giving me an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

An absorbing and moving story that moves from lyrical disconnected pieces to threads of different stories being beautifully woven together with an inevitability to the track the characters find themselves on at the finish. The characters and storylines are delicately and insightfully brought together to give an in-depth broad sweep of so much early-twentieth century life and background against the intricate particularities of many characters. So absorbing I could carry on reading about these characters for ever, such perfect storytelling I didn't want it to end.

There’s no doubt that Sebastian Faulks can tell a good story, taking his time to develop and build characters. In this slow burner of a novel, the characters have more time to grow as the book is the second in an intended trilogy. The central protagonists are Anton Heidecke, an Austrian journalist and a younger girl from an impoverished background called Lena. Their intersecting stories involve, firstly, a chance meeting in Vienna and then a longer encounter at a therapeutic psychological clinic called the Schloss Seeblick.

There are long back stories to account for both characters. Anton makes his own way in journalism but the start of the First World War throws his life into disarray when he loses contact with his first love, Delphine. In many ways, the remainder of his life seems to become a restless search for what she embodied and it is part of this quest which leads to his chance encounter with Lena. Lena is also trying to make her way in the world from an appalling start with an alcoholic prostitute mother and a father who she’s only seen on one or two occasions and has never properly known.

She is unschooled but helped by people and, eventually, she finds a job at the clinic where she is reunited with Anton. Unfortunately, he doesn’t connect her with the previous chance encounter. Along the way in both stories, there are lengthy diversions. Anton spends some time covering the building and opening of the Panama Canal and, later, the trial of Henriette Caillaux in Paris. These are lengthy asides in the unfolding plot. If the book is set anywhere, it is in the early 1930s but the story moves backwards and forwards which is challenging when it involves French and Austrian political and social history.

However, it is the clinic which brings it all together and it is the place where Anton and Lena both find some understanding of the psychological scarring brought about by their previous lives. There is another long diversion here into the history of early psychology but, perhaps, this is where the nitty-gritty of the book is found. Essentially, life is a long journey where you come to terms with the events, the influence and perhaps the damage of childhood and early life. If the book is about anything, it is about the capacity to come to terms with traumatic events and emerge bearing scars yet psychologically reconciled to what one is. It takes a lot of reported conversation and discussion to get to this point and, sometimes, the book seems to struggle to know where it is going but, maybe, that is just the same as life!

Anton is a more convincing and rounded character than Lena. Some readers might find her easy descent into prostitution a little dodgy and, oddly, when everyone else is damaged by everything that happens she seems to cope with this quite well. Their meetings also rely on a considerable measure of coincidence.

With these reservations, I enjoyed the slow pace of the book which is immaculately written and informed, although some people might disagree with the insertion of some hobby horses of his own which Sebastian Faulks likes to ride off on into the distance! It’s not his best book but that is no criticism and it’s a good read.

I’ve loved the author’s other books but this one was possibly even better. Clever and insightful as well as rich and detailed but so well-plotted. Masterful.

Set in Austria during the period from 1903 to 1933 . The country and the people are struggling to come to terms with the outcome of the First World War and the pervading thought that there could be a second war. The three main characters , Anton, Lena and Martha all meet at the Schloss Seeblick renowned for its successful treatment of patients with mental health problems. These three main characters, likeable or not drive the narrative
The novel gives an insight into the effects of war on individuals and the progress of the treatment of mental health problems post Freud from his principles of psychoanalysis to more liberal gentle and compassionate treatments.

Once again Faulks picks up on themes of love, history and war. Also he is going back to Human Traces to weave in threads about psychology and mental health. He says that this is the second in a planned trilogy which started with Human Traces, but that this novel can be read as a standalone.

It starts with a shocking chapter of a brutal operation in an army field hospital. Swiftly it moves on to an up and coming young Austrian journalist Anton. In between his journalistic travels to Panama and Paris he has fallen in love with French Delphine and, defying convention, they have set up a home together. However war intervenes.

The second major character , Lena, is being brought up by an alcoholic single mother who is a sex worker to sustain her habit and keep her child . Lena escapes this situation with a visit to Trieste to see her father, but there is a bigger escape looming. Despite being solitary by nature her path crosses with Rudolf, whose political interests are idealistic..

A third section charts how all their paths cross unexpectedly in an Austrian sanatorium/ asylum in the interwar years but with the events propelling them towards World War 2.

The tone varied widely across the book. The Panama/ Paris chapters had an almost jaunty feel maybe to reflect the hopes of Anton as he starts off in life ( having escaped an oppressive school ) There is more a claustrophobic feel about the Schloss Seeblick chapters, which are apt given the setting.

The characters I found to be elusive. I couldn't sympathise with Anton and Rudolf just seemed naive and lacking in empathy. Lena is described in the book as an "oddity" and that's how I found her.

For me the different characters and parts of the book didn't fit together in a satisfying way. It was like doing a jigsaw where you thought a piece fitted only to find later that it didn't. I didn't rate this as being one of the best Faulks I had read .

Being Faulks there were interesting explorations of an individual's place in history, identity and a person's place in time.

This is such a beautiful, well written story & I highly recommend it.

I haven't read the first book in the trilogy but you don't need to have done to enjoy this one.

This is billed as the second book in a trilogy but that you don't need to have read the first. I haven't read the first but, from what I hear from those who have, that statement is correct. It's not a trilogy in the traditional sense, rather a triptych of books which are connected in some way. That said, I will go back and read the previous book, tbr permitting! Oh as well as the next when it arrives.
We start back in 1914 and follow a young Anton Heideck as he arrives in Vienna to start his job as a journalist. He complements his work by doing some private tutoring and it is through one of his pupils that he meets Delphine who knocks him off his feet.
Meanwhile, we also meet Lena who has not had a good start in live with an absent father and a drunk mother. She finds a sort of benefactor in a young lawyer Rudolf Plischke who tries to help her but it is on her own merit that she finally gets herself a job.
In 1933 our three characters collide at Schloss Seeblick, a groundbreaking sanitarium. Presided over by the wonderful Martha Midwinter, daughter of one of the founders.
In this book, which is so very character driven, the author manages to weave his fiction around the facts of what is happening in the world in the times in which the book is set. More obviously the war and the state of politics, but also the leaps they are making in the world of psychiatry and mental health. It follows the relationships and interactions between the three characters and how they manage to get on in the world despite all it throws at them. They are all very different but, at the same time, all the same. It's emotional in all the right places and also gave me food for thought as well as the chance to learn more about certain things I discovered along the way.
There are few books that I earmark for a re-read but this, along with Birdsong, will be one of them.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Snow Country is an exceptional novel set over three decades between Anton and Delphine- starting in 1914 and culminating in the early 1930’s.
It plots the ups and downs of two people in love and their lives apart from each other.
A story that draws on every emotion, with scenes of desperation and hope, and a love story that is so heartfelt, I couldn’t put it down.
Sebastian Faulks is an outstanding writer. He writes with such poise and elegance and this novel showcases his exceptional talent.
I firmly believe this might be his best novel to date. Outstanding.

I very much enjoyed “Human Traces”, the previous title in this trilogy, as well as other Sebastian Faulks titles I have read, so had high hopes for this one. Luckily, I wasn’t disappointed.

We meet our two principal characters on their separate paths in the early 20th century. Anton lives in Vienna, where he aspires to be a journalist of renown and where he meets and falls in love with an older French woman, Delphine. In love and now living together, Anton leaves to go on journalistic assignments in Panama and Paris, only to return to Austria to find Delphine gone without a trace...

Meanwhile, Lena is poor, with little education and being raised by an alcoholic mother but with a talents that, with help from her friend Rudolf, lead to her moving to Vienna. Falling on harder times, she becomes a “line girl”, entertaining gentlemen in exchange for payment. One of these encounters is with a man who speaks of his lost love, Delphine, and her life changes from that moment.

Years later, the two are reunited at the Austrian sanatorium Schloss Seeblick, where Lena now works and Anton is preparing to write an article. To say what follows would be to give spoilers, but I will say that it is a beautiful and fascinating character study. The whole tale is beautifully written and the descriptions of the time and place in which the story is set give a very vivid impression of the period. The characters are wonderful, and complex, and flawed, and fascinating to spend time with. I very much look forward to the next instalment, as well as anything else by this author!

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.

A haunting story of two troubled souls struggling to find meaning in early 20 century Austria. Anton, discovering the answer to everything missing in his life through a encompassing passion for Delphine. That she was much older, wiser and had the confidence emitted from someone who has the experience of a lived life in its many guises only strengthened his insatiable passion. Lena, born into poverty, destitute in both material and emotional well-being realises that promises are made never to be kept, a loving family the stuff of dreams, and only by grabbing every unthought through opportunity will she escape abject poverty in the life shared with her single drunken , promiscuous, uneducated mother. Our protagonists , two tortured individuals blind to the realisation that they hold the answer to the others inability to be happy, zig zagging through a life of uncertainty lost to each other in a scenario reminiscent of Doctor Zhivago,. A tragedy of unforeseen events lead to a fitting conclusion for this complex storyline. Many thanks to Author, Publisher and NetGalley for this worthy ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book!

I picked this up on Netgalley and was immediately excited. I know of Faulks through Birdsong, so to read another historical fiction novel of his was a delight. I really enjoyed the history aspect of it, and it felt very well researched. I do love how we start of with three different characters at the beginning of the 1900s, with the descent into war as the three meet at the sanatorium in 1933. That said, for all its ambitions, it didn't move me as much as I hoped. It felt a little too long for me, and it did slog at parts. Perhaps, I had set my expectations too high (thanks to Birdsong of course). But regardless, it was a beautiful book, and skillfully rendered. I look forward to more of his work.

I adored this book. Story telling at its absolute best.

Profound, moving, so beautifully written, I completely lost myself in the world the characters inhabit and was bereft when their stories ended.

Highly recommend.

As ever, Sebastian Faulks has produced a captivating, touching read.

Set in the early 20th century as WW1 rears it's ugly head, Faulks introduces us to a number of touching characters. Anton and Delphine find love, beautiful yet torn apart by the war between their two homelands; Rudolf seemingly has everything, yet can he really make others happy? Lena has come from poverty to experience wealth with Rudolf, yet returns to humbler and happier places.

Sebastian Faulks remains one of my favourite writers, always a reliably good read.