Cold Snap [Paperback]

Francis King (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2010

For innumerable people in Great Britain, the second half of the forties was a period of return to homes and former occupations after the volcanic dislocations of the war. Michael, having repeatedly risked his life as an Air Force pilot, is now back in his comfortable and privileged existence as a fellow of a major Oxford college. After the excitements of her years in SOE, the Special Operations Executive, his cousin Christine is attempting to fulfill her high expectations of her as a classical scholar of note. For the German prisoners crowded together in a camp on the outskirts of the town there have been no such returns. But at least the previously severe edict against any sort of fraternisation has been in some measure relaxed. So it is that a chance conversation that Michael initiates with a solitary prisoner, Thomas, precipitates a friendship between the fastidious don and a little group of prisoners, whom he eventually introduces to Christine. Soon Michael has become profoundly attached to Klaus, a previously robust East Prussian hideously wounded before his capture, who remains totally unaware of the dormant passion that he has aroused. Christine starts a tumultuous affair with Thomas, a would-be composer. Inevitably the relationship is a difficult one in a world in which many of the victors oppose relationships of any kind with representatives of the hated enemy. King''s descriptions of the grimness of the lives of Germans, labouring outdoors in the bitter cold, and o

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Francis King is president emeritus of International PEN, a drama critic for the Sunday Telegraph, and the author of 28 novels, including Dead Letters, The Nick of Time (long-listed for the Booker Prize), Sunshine in the Garden, and With My Little Eye. 

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Arcadia Books (July 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906413592
• ISBN-13: 978-1906413590
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,451,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A moving and poignant novel, November 1, 2010

By 

Kiwifunlad (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cold Snap (Paperback)

This is the first novel I have read by Francis King and it was an easy page turner as the story effortlessly evolved. King is obviously a prolific novelist as this is his 50th book.
The blurb written by Arcadia at the back of the novel gives most emphasis to Michael the gay Fellow, of predictably, an Oxford College. This is misleading as the central plot revolves around Christine an undergraduate and her affair with Thomas, a German Prisoner of War. Perhaps Arcadia had eyes on the pink readership when in the blurb it states "Soon Michael has become profoundly attached to Klaus...". Certainly not a principal theme of this novel!
The bulk of the book is set in 1947 Oxford, King writes with a clear style and his characters are very credible and interesting. The mood between the English and the German POW's is extremely well written and often it felt like reading a work of non-fiction as to the different way the various characters reacted to Christine's relationship with Thomas. The second and third parts of the book set in 1950 and 1983 were less interesting and something of a letdown after the build up of the tension in the first part. Christine's visit to see her father near the end of the first part of the book was also somewhat clumsy and a little implausible.