The Winter Ghosts

by Kate Mosse

Julian Rhind-Tutt (Narrator)

Nothing is as it seems . . .

France, 1928. It is ten years since the Great War ended, but Freddie Watson is still haunted by the loss of his beloved brother. Driving through the foothills of the Pyrenees, his car spins off the road in a snowstorm. He takes refuge in an isolated village and there meets the captivating Fabrissa. They spend the night talking of love and loss and war.

By daybreak, Fabrissa has vanished and Freddie has discovered that he alone holds the key to an ancient mystery, one which leads him deep into the mountains and to a cave that conceals a shocking secret . . .

'A wonderfully haunting winter's tale. Stop the clock and read it in one sitting' She
'A great read . . . Mosse writes movingly about loss and atmospherically about France' Daily Mail
'Beautiful and haunting, this is a great story of love, loss and courage' Woman

Read by Julian Rhind-Tutt

• ISBN10: 1409113272
• ISBN13: 9781409113270
• Publish Date: 1 October 2009
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
• Imprint: Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
• Edition: Unabridged edition
• Format: Audiobook (MP3)
• Duration: 5 hours and 22 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[Hillary]

I received this from the publisher for review.

In keeping with one of my reading resolutions I ventured out into a new genre. This is my first foray into historical fiction. I have to say I liked it. This book made me more curious about the genre so I will check it out. If you have any recommendations leave them in the comments.
Freddie Waston walks into a bookshop to have a letter translated. While translating the letter the man tells the story of how the letter came to be. Which involved the mountains of France and Cather ghosts. The story was also a kind of a love story. Freddie goes to a celebration and meets a woman and she tells the story of how she and her community came to be entombed alive in the nearby caves. The woman turns out to be a ghost but the question remains. Can love at it most pure form bring closure to just about any event? For Freddie was also suffering from the death of his brother in World War 1. He had been in sanatoriums for mental breakdowns. But as he tells the story to the woman he finds a kind of redemption that allows him to move on.
It also brings to mind the need for people to know when wrong has been done. For it may be too late for justice but if people have knowledge of the wrongdoing then maybe the deaths would not have been completely in vain.It also highlights the cruelty of war. For Freddie had lost his brother and the woman had been entombed alive in a cave. It shows the aftermath of the war may be over but suffering remains. For the village where the cave is had lived under sadness for as long as anyone could remember. No one knew what the sadness was. This kind of unknowing could not allow the “winter ghosts” to rest in peace. The ghosts came back and chose Freddie to revel what had happened.
I have to admit I do not know much about the Cather's or the Mountains of France so I could go into this story believing whatever the story unfolded. I also was not sure what a historical Fiction entailed exactly. How much historical and how much fiction? I was pleased to see that there was a good blend of both. This book has made me even more curious about the Cathers..
Overall if you enjoy historical Fiction you will enjoy this book.This review was originally posted on Adventures in Never Never Land