Book Reviews – Snow Country

Snow Country
by Sebastian Faulks

This is the second book in the Austrian trilogy, but it’s not necessary to have read the first book, Human Traces, to enjoy Snow Country. The book starts in 1914 with Anton, who has left his rural family’s sausage business to pursue a career as a journalist. In Vienna, he meets Delphine, a French woman slightly older than himself, and he falls deeply in love. However, when Anton is away on business and Austria declares war on France, he arrives home to find Delphine gone without a trace. After the war, Anton is sent to the Schloss to write an article, and while there he finds some resolution regarding his war experience and Delphine’s disappearance. The other main character in this story is Lena, whom we meet in 1927. She lives alone with her alcoholic mother near the Schloss but encounters a young lawyer from Vienna who talks her into meeting him in the city. Lena is desperate to make a successful life for herself, but due to lack of education and circumstances, she struggles and ends up leaving Vienna and getting a job as a cleaner at Schloss Seeblick. Like Anton, Lena will find hope and a possible future while at the Schloss. Faulks writes beautifully. I loved this novel set in such a tumultuous time and place.