The Winter Warriors

When the Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939, they were not expecting the Finns to fight back - much less to prevail. Olivier Norek's riveting, heart-pounding, epic historical thriller is a story of barely imaginable courage, astonishing resilience, and the best sniper the world has ever seen. `Timely, thrilling and deeply affecting ... the appeal of this tour de force owes a lot to its intensity, brilliance, and ferocity, but also to a deeply moving portrait of an accidental patriot- Independent `Impeccably researched and beautifully written, The Winter Warriors is perfect for fans of Ben Macintyre and Robert Harris- Paula Hawkins `A novel you will not put down. Maybe never- Richard Ford `There are echoes of Vasily Grossman in this gripping, chillingly urgent story of the horrors and heroism of war- A.D. Miller `A fascinating and gripping novel about a forgotten corner of the Second World War. Remarkable and revelatory- William Boyd *Over 450,000 copies sold in French* _____ November, 1939. A conscription officer arrives in the peaceful farming village of Rautjärvi. The Soviet Union has invaded, and for the first time in its history as an independent country, Finland is at war. Setting off into the depths of winter to face the Red Army, the small group of childhood friends recruited from Rautjärvi have no idea whether any of them will ever return home. But their unit has a secret weapon: the young sniper Simo Häyhä, whose lethal skill in the snow-bound forests of the front line will earn him the nickname `The White Death-. Drawing on the real-life figures and battles of the Finnish-Soviet Winter War, The Winter Warriors is a riveting, heart-pounding, utterly epic historical thriller from one of Europe's most acclaimed crime writers. ____ `A well-researched, heart-rending account of a tragic war- Sunday Times `Horribly topical and wholly immersive, with descriptions vivid enough to make you shiver, this astonishing book is not only a testament to bravery and resilience, but a powerful indictment of the cruelty and needless suffering that result when ideology comes up against reality- Guardian `Young men fighting for their country have rarely been so movingly portrayed. As the temperature falls and the body count rises, the echoes of this powerful historical page-turner can be seen in Ukraine today- Daily Express `A sniper's life, a thriller of the highest quality, as timely as it is gripping, by a very fine writer- Philippe Sands `Over and beyond the vivid visceral writing, character-driven narrative and a chillingly immersive atmosphere, The Winter Warriors is epic in scope. Both moving and thought-provoking, it is literary adrenaline which hooks you from page one- Book Blast `Grim, funny, poignant, always vivid, this is the best military novel I have read for a long time- Historical Novel Society magazine

Olivier Norek served as a humanitarian aid worker in the former Yugoslavia, before embarking on an eighteen-year career in the French police, rising to the rank of capitaine in the Seine-Saint-Denis Police Judiciare. He has written six crime novels, which have sold more than a million copies in France and won a dozen literary prizes.