One morning,in the dead of winter,three German soldiers head out into the frozen Polish countryside. They have been charged by their commanders to track down and bring back for execution'one of them'- a Jew.
Having flushed out a young man hiding in the woods,they decide to rest in an abandoned house before continuing their journey back to the camp. As they prepare food,they are joined by a passing Pole whose virulent anti-Semitism adds tension to an already charged atmosphere.
Before long,the group's sympathies begin to splinter as each man is forced to confront his own conscience as the moral implications of their murderous mission become clear.
Publisher: Granta BooksISBN: 9781846275364Number of pages: 144Weight: 103 gDimensions: 195 x 130 x 5 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
The most moving book I have read for a long time... Mingarelli's spare language is well suited to this luminous tale... he accomplishes a great dealThe "banality of evil" finds beautiful,spare expression in this remarkable novellaA masterpieceIn its modest duration and economical prose,(this book) communicates more than most novels twice or three times its length... Praise is due to the translator,Sam Taylor,who appears to have weighed every word with supreme care,capturing the rhythm of a measured tread through the icy landscape... Brave and original... a masterpieceA sparse,beautiful and shocking novel that finds a more intimate route into the HolocaustMingarelli's lapidary tale of awakened conscience unites historical events with the mood of a forest fairy-tale.... Brief,elegant,quietly lyrical yet driven by an inward fireSuperb... The prose,elegantly translated by Sam Taylor,is full of rich visual descriptions... Enormously powerful and movingSo memorable,so dark,so humane,it deserves to be read all over Europe. A masterpiece of empathy and horrorOne of the most quietly shattering novels I've readDeliver(s) a powerful punchBeautiful and disturbing... complex and surprisingThis strong and simple story packs a mighty punchSuperb and devastatingChilling... From the first lines one is taken somewhere one would never wish to go,thanks to the clear,direct style,and the brilliant dialogue... impossible to put downThe tragedy of the holocaust has rarely been better told than in this short tale,resonant with sadness and poetryThis new novel by Mingarelli doesn't offer any miracles,but his story of wretched humanity revived around a piping hot dish shows once more the greatness of an incredibly unassuming author. BreathtakingThe prose draws you in... Starkly realisticThis is Mingarelli at his best.A story delivered with restraint,in hushed,sensitive prose. PerfectA gem of a novel,slight but so powerfulMingarelli find(s) new ways - oblique,lyrical,humane - to address the Nazi pastMasterly and necessary... no intervening hand is noticeable in Sam Taylor's rendering of MingarelliDevastating... Crisply translated by Sam TaylorIt's a brave novelist who sets out to tell a Holocaust tale from the point of view of the would-be executioner but this is what Mingarelli does with great skill and admirable subtlety. A breathtaking lesson in brevityA fascinating,compelling vignette from Nazi-occupied Poland explored by a masterful storytellerA narrative of bleak genius138 profound pages of horror and humanityI so recommend this brilliant,devastating,compelling WW2 novelMingarelli's writing possesses a deceptive simplicity,and the novella proceeds so quietly that one is almost unprepared when the spectre of genocide intrudes upon it
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