Four Soldiers (Hardback)
Hubert Mingarelli (author)- We can order this
War’s pathos finds a human face in this deeply moving story of loyalty and friendship in the wilderness. A newly translated classic from the author of A Meal in Winter.
Longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2019
1919. The Russian Civil War.
It is the harsh dead of winter, as four soldiers set up camp in a forest somewhere near the Romanian front line. There is a lull in the fighting, so their days are filled with precious hours of freedom, enjoying the tranquillity of a nearby pond and trying to forget their terrifying nightmares, all the while talking, smoking and waiting.
Waiting for spring to come, waiting for their battalion to move on, waiting for the inevitable resumption of violence.
Tightly focused and simply told, this is a story of friendship and the fragments of happiness that can illuminate the darkness of war.
Publisher: Granta Books
ISBN: 9781846276507
Number of pages: 160
Weight: 229 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 9 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'I am astonished by Four Soldiers. I have never read anything like it, yet it is one of those books you feel must always have existed, a classic of writing about the human condition... A small miracle' - Hilary Mantel
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“A book that stretches your imagination and brakes your heart.”
A simple story about men at their most vulnerable and where friendships are forged amid common fears and shared enemies.
The Red Army were a mixed bag of illiterate peasants and working class men who were mobilised to...
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“"I'm not alone in the world any more"”
Huge thanks to Granta for sending me an early reading copy.
I adored Mingarelli's previous book, A Meal in Winter; Four Soldiers is every bit its equal and may even surpass it. Not a single word is wasted in...
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