By Rachel Seiffert
Vintage International Publishers
Published in 2018; copyright 2017
238 pages
ISBN: 978-0-8041-6880-9
Summary by Uliana Pasicznyk
This poignant
novel begins in Nazi-occupied Ukraine in November 1941. The German Wehrmacht has
pushed the Soviet Red Army across much of western Ukraine and is advancing toward
Kyiv. Following the Wehrmacht, the
German SS has arrived in the town where thirteen-year-old Yankel and his family
live. Yasia, a seventeen-year-old Ukrainian girl, is in the town too, having
arrived there from her family’s farm in the surrounding countryside. Stationed
nearby is the German engineer Otto Pohl, whose task is to build a solid road for
the Germans’ use. Their lives soon intertwine in a remarkable and memorable
story.
In the town,
people fear the SS’s presence and what its occupation means. Yankel’s parents
and small sister are already in the crowd of people gathered in the brickworks factory
in the centre of town, having been commanded to appear there along with all
other Jews. But independent-minded Yankel has no intention of heading there. His
little brother, Momik, is with him, and he must find some other place for the
two of them to go.
Ostensibly Yasia
has come to town to sell fruit, but her real aim is to see Mykola, her beloved,
who abandoned the retreating Red Army and has begun policing for the Germans. Venturing
out at dusk to seek him out, Yasia chances upon the two brothers keeping to the
shadows along a dark side street. What are they doing out here, she wonders
fretfully, especially now, when the whole village is strange and times are
troubled? When the boys follow her, she realizes they have no place to go. Apprehensive
and reluctant though she is, Yasia hides them in the loft of her cousin’s barn.
Outside the
town, Otto continues to oversee his workers and report on the construction of
the road that is his responsibility. But he is uneasy, and he avoids dealing with
the SS and German military in the area. Why are they still here, he wonders
irritably, when the victorious Wehrmacht has marched on? Why is he obliged to
make local men labour on the road for such long stretches of time without
adequate food or rest, resulting in less than good work? And then there was that
scene he witnessed, the way the SS had treated the town’s Jewish schoolmaster
and his mother – it appalled Otto. He has gradually begun to realize what the goals
of the Nazis he is working for are, and he is increasingly troubled by them. The
only person with whom he can share all this is his wife back in Germany, but he
knows his letters to her are read by censors and so anything he writes could endanger
them both.
Readers of
the novel encounter others who are part of what is happening: Yankel’s worried parents
Ephraim and Miryam with small Rosa; the battered schoolmaster and his bewildered
elderly mother; rash Mykola and his unyielding parents; Otto’s calculating SS
supervisor, Arnold; Yasia’s fearful cousin Osip, and his suspicious neighbours;
her reticent uncle, and members of his community far out in the marshlands; the
partisans who also roam there. Always at the centre of the story, though, are Yasia
and the two brothers she has unwillingly become responsible for. As Yasia and
Yankel work through their distrust of each other, dangerous incidents and
horrific events occur, and they must depend on each other to survive. At one point,
Otto comes across them and their lives are literally in his hands; the actions
he takes then alter his life, as well as theirs.
Our Rozmova
group had much to say about A Boy in Winter. Several members noted events and
characters in the book that resembled wartime experiences they had heard about
in their own families. The group was appreciative of the clear writing style,
fluid yet precise narrative, and use of concise dialogue that characterize the
book, agreeing that together they allowed readers to “witness” characters, actions, and scenes
vividly. One example was when restless Momik must be kept quiet in the barn loft
lest a noise reveal their presence; Yankel acts by swiftly and silently fashioning
animals from bits of straw and twigs for the little boy to play with, as Yasia,
still apprehensive but now also appreciative of Yankel’s quick thinking and
ingenuity, looks on. Another element focused on was that the main characters
spoke three different languages, at times conveyed by italicized words in those
languages, so communicating effectively with one another was a complexity evident
from the start.
The author,
Rachel Seiffert, is a prize-winning writer whose first book, The Dark Room, was short-listed for the
Booker Prize. In interviews she has spoken about elements in her personal
history – for instance, her German family background – that have affected her
choice of topics and characters to portray. One theme strongly present in her
work is how the individual acts within the context of history, that is, in critical
historical events as they are happening around him or her. Rozmova members
agreed that in dealing with her characters and their actions, Seiffert writes in
a way that allows her readers to visualize them clearly and in depth. In sum, her
skill as a writer allowed her readers to make their own judgments about these
characters and actions, and that was something Rozmova readers valued highly in
this book.
