The Winter House [Import] [Paperback]

Judith Lennox (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 572 pages
• Publisher: Corgi Books (1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0552143324
• ISBN-13: 978-0552143325
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,070,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievably sweeping- A saga in the confusions of the 30's, May 14, 2005

By 

Sabine Taylor "Sabine" (Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Winter House Hb (Hardcover)

From the first page this book had an expectional dynamic I have rarely experienced before. The three female heroins , Robin who wants to change the world, experience and gets involved with the problems of London's worker families, the poverty and most at all the political lot of England and Europe. Maia, pretty and ambitious, carried out to marry a wealthy man, after her father commited suicide. Young and naive, how she called herself at the end of the story, she actually married a wealthy man, but everything she hoped to get, most at all to be happy in life, were refused and life had an totally different way for her. Last but not least there is Helen, a preacher's daughter who lives togther with her father without her mother who died really young. Her father gets by to tie her at the bleak landscape of the fens over years, and it seems like all her wishes to have a small house, a husband and many children would be forever deleted.
These three friends in the time before the World War II went her ways, mostly unexpected ones through love, life and career into the dreadful battles between the Republicans and Fascists in Spain 1936/1937 where Robin follows her boyfriend and brother that both fighted on the front as part of the International Brigades against the Nationalists and Robin helped in military hospitals. Their wishes and hopes changed, beliefs and fears accompanied them trough an incredible life and the secrets they swore to share and celebrate, like their first journey abroad,drifted them apart and brought them even closer together. But in that whole dismal time Judith Lennox still finds a chance to create an great emotional romantic lovestory.
For me this novel is a must have read, it changed some of my opinions and confronted me with the fears and desires in a nearly forgotten time. Between London, Cambridge, Ely, Paris, Munich and Madrid this novel provided a great basis for a bestseller.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Extremely boring!, January 20, 2011

By 

C. Mathieu "waldenpond88" (Worcester, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Winter House Hb (Hardcover)

Novels set between the two world wars usually are a bit boring, but I just reread "Stella Termogen" by Utta Danella, one of Germany's best authors, in the fall of 2010 and that is one helluva read (also taking place between 1918 and 1939).

After having read the many positive reviews on "The Winter House" in amazon.de (Germany), I tried to read this book starting at the end of November. Finally last night I finished it (usually I finish 2 books per week).

Also I checked out Judith Lennox' website and found it fascinating that she did so much research on pre WW II Germany. That part of the book was quite well researched and interesting (and that's why I give the book 1 star).

Other than that it was the most boring book I ever read, especially the first 250 pages. Then it picks up a little, but not too much. However I will give Lennox two more chances. I'll start reading "Some Old Lover's Ghost" and my 3rd attempt will be "The Shadow Child".