Introduction

WINNER – National Indie Excellence Award 2017 for Literary Fiction
BRONZE WINNER – Foreword INDIES 2016, War & Military
HONORABLE MENTION – San Francisco Book Festival 2017, General Fiction

“A great historical novel, a touching family saga, and a noir wartime thriller all rolled into one terrific narrative.” —Lee Child, New York Times best-selling author

The fog of war shrouds occupied Denmark in the darkest days of World War II. On a farm in Jutland, Fredrik Gregersen struggles to keep his children fed, supplementing his income by smuggling Jewish refugees through Denmark into Sweden. Meanwhile, in Copenhagen, Polina, a young Polish Jew, has been forced into prostitution by the Nazis. When Fredrik steals an heirloom necklace from a helpless Jewish family, his fate becomes intertwined with Polina’s, entrapping them both in a complex web that takes decades to unravel.

New paperback release, January 16, 2018.

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Excerpt

Krakow, Poland. August, 1938.

A young girl crossed a bridge on the outskirts of Krakow slowly, one hand trailing behind her, her fingers running over the rusty guardrail. In her other hand, the girl clutched a doll with black hair and a red dress. Mossy green, the Vistula rippled beneath her in the breeze, but the water could have been standing still. The river was low, barely flowing at the end of a dry summer. Beyond the sandy, stony expanse of the riverbank, reeds were drying into gray stalks. In the distance, through the heavy iron girders that supported the span, the spires of the Wawel Cathedral carved an ornate edge into the hazy afternoon sky – or perhaps it was the invisible weight of the sky, the young girl reflected idly, that gave definition to the stones of the cathedral. It was a long, hot day at the height of August. If not for the wind, the humidity would have been stifling. The high-pitched buzz of cicadas and crickets was so loud that the girl didn’t hear the approach of a bicycle. The rattle of its wheels over the cobblestones penetrated her thoughts in the same moment that the rider called out to her. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. At the center of The Second Winter is Polina, and an image of her graces the cover of the book. What do you make of her? Does she remain mysterious over the course of the novel or does she emerge clearly as a character?

2. Have you read any other novels about the Second World War? How are they different? How are they similar?

3. Oskar thinks, “War can make criminals of heroes and heroes of criminals” (p 400). Who is a hero in The Second Winter? Who is a criminal? Do you think the line between the two can be easily delineated?

4. How does your impression of or understanding of Fredrik change over the course of the novel? Do you ever feel sympathetic toward him?

5. How does Polina’s arrival at Fredrik’s Jutland farm change his family?

6. Why do you think Fredrik treats his children with such harshness? Do you agree with Polina when she says to him, “I think you’re pushing them away from you before they leave you first” (p 296)?

7. Describe the relationship between Fredrik and Polina. Did it ever make you feel uncomfortable?

8. Why is it that Polina doesn’t stay with Oskar, doesn’t go to America with him? Consider what she thinks on page 329, “This was the man to whom she belonged now—wasn’t it?”

9. On page 400 Angela asks Oskar, “Was he a good man, my father?” Do you think her father was a good man? After finishing the novel, do you feel like circumstances determine a person’s character, or that one’s character remains the same, no matter the circumstances?

10. What kind of a father is Fredrik Gregersen? What kind of a father is Hermann Schmidt? What do you think of the portrait of fatherhood that The Second Winter paints?

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