Winter Ghosts

Product Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of Sepulchre and Labyrinth-a compelling story of love, ghosts and remembrance.
 
World War I robbed England and France of an entire generation of friends, lovers and futures. In Freddie Watson's case, the battlefields took his beloved brother and, at times, his peace of mind. In the winter of 1928, still seeking some kind of resolution, Freddie is travelling through the beautiful but forbidding French Pyrenees. During a snowstorm, his car spins off the mountain road. Freezing and dazed, he stumbles through the woods, emerging in a tiny village, where he finds an inn to wait out the blizzard. There he meets Fabrissa, a lovely young woman also mourning a lost generation. Over the course of one night, Fabrissa and Freddie share their stories. By the time dawn breaks, Freddie will have unearthed a tragic mystery that goes back through the centuries, and discovered his own role in the life of this old remote town.
By turns thrilling, poignant, and haunting, this is a story of two lives touched by war and transformed by courage.
From Publishers Weekly
In Mosse's wisp of a new novel (after Sepulchre), Freddie Watson is a stilted young man who has not gotten over older brother George's disappearance on the Western Front during WWI. It is now 10 years since the Armistice, and Freddie, after a stay in a mental institution, has come to the French Pyrenees to find peace. While motoring through a snowstorm, he crashes his car and ends up in the small village of Nulle, where he meets a beautiful young woman named Fabrissa. In the course of an evening, Fabrissa tells Freddie a story of persecution, resistance, and death, hinting at a long-buried secret. By the next morning, she is gone, leaving Freddie alone to unlock a ghostly mystery hidden for 600 years. This is a staunchly old-fashioned story, taking fully 100 pages to get moving, and by the time things pick up, the gist of the narrative will be obvious to anyone who has ever sat through a Twilight Zone episode. Freddie's obtuseness does little to help along a gruel-thin story. (Feb.)
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Review
Beautiful and haunting, this is a great story of love, loss and courage. WOMAN an absorbing tale of loss and remembrance in the aftermath of the First World War ... Mosse excels at transporting her readers into another time and another world ... Mosse's depiction of life in Southern France between the wars is utterly convincing. Not only that, the book itself is a work of art - with stunning illustrations by artist Brian Gallagher and copies of vintage maps as endpapers. EXPRESS A poignant, spooky study of mourning and redemption MARIE CLAIRE The themes of love, loss and remembrance are explored to create a wonderfully haunting winter's tale. Stop the clock and read it in one sitting. SHE An enchanting novella ... Mosse proves that she can weave a web of poignant and thrilling strands that will ensnare any reader. THE LADY This is a great read ... Mosse writes movingly about loss and atmospherically about France -- Wendy Holden DAILY MAIL It takes much of what appeals about her bestselling novels - and adds a heartbreaking story - what is really haunting about Mosse's tale is the rawness of Freddie's grief THE TIMES
From Booklist
Slimmer than either of her previous titles, Labyrinth (2006) and Sepulchre (2008), Mosse’s latest is set in the years after World War I. Devastated by the death of his older brother, George, in the war, Freddie Watson has traveled to France after recovering from a nervous breakdown on his twenty-first birthday. While driving through the French Pyrenees on a snowy afternoon, he loses control of his vehicle and nearly takes a fatal plunge off the mountains. After managing to free himself from the car, Freddie makes his way to the village of Nulle, where he finds lodging and is invited by the kindly hostess to a celebration tha