The Winter Soldier

By: Daniel Mason

Narrated by: Laurence Dobiesz

The epic story of war and medicine from the award-winning author of The Piano Tuner is "a dream of a novel...part mystery, part war story, part romance" (Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See).

Vienna, 1914. Lucius is a twenty-two-year-old medical student when World War I explodes across Europe. Enraptured by romantic tales of battlefield surgery, he enlists, expecting a position at a well-organized field hospital. But when he arrives, at a commandeered church tucked away high in a remote valley of the Carpathian Mountains, he finds a freezing outpost ravaged by typhus. The other doctors have fled, and only a single, mysterious nurse named Sister Margarete remains.

But Lucius has never lifted a surgeon's scalpel. And as the war rages across the winter landscape, he finds himself falling in love with the woman from whom he must learn a brutal, makeshift medicine. Then one day, an unconscious soldier is brought in from the snow, his uniform stuffed with strange drawings. He seems beyond rescue, until Lucius makes a fateful decision that will change the lives of doctor, patient, and nurse forever.

From the gilded ballrooms of Imperial Vienna to the frozen forests of the Eastern Front; from hardscrabble operating rooms to battlefields thundering with Cossack cavalry, The Winter Soldier is the story of war and medicine, of family, of finding love in the sweeping tides of history, and finally, of the mistakes we make, and the precious opportunities to atone.

"The Winter Soldier brims with improbable narrative pleasures...These pages crackle with excitement... A spectacular success." —Anthony Marra, New York Times Book Review

Critic reviews

"The beauty of The Winter Soldier persists even through scenes of unspeakable agony. That tension reflects the span of Daniel Mason's talent. As a writer, he knows how to capture the grace of a moment; as a doctor, he knows how wrong things can go...The Winter Soldier draws us into the deadly undertow of history that swept away so many in the early twentieth century. The redemption the story ultimately offers is equally unlikely and gorgeous, painfully limited but gratefully received in a world thrown into chaos."—Ron Charles, Washington Post

"Not only does Mason make every crumb of pertinent history, culture, and geography so real throughout this saga that a reader feels instantly teleported into all of it but The Winter Soldier delivers, in shocking detail, a relentless inventory of the era's medical knowledge and practices...The novel's pacing clips along tightly; its closure, when at last it comes, proves deeply, memorably moving...One is reminded of a dozen greats: Doctor Zhivago, The English Patient, For Whom the Bell Tolls."—Joan Frank, San Francisco Chronicle

"Extraordinary."—Isabel Allende, The Guardian

"The Winter Soldier held me by the throat from the first lyrical page to the last. A story which manages to be as original as it is timeless, and above all, credible."—Emma Donoghue, bestselling author of Room

"Timeless...The Winter Soldier brims with improbable narrative pleasures...Within the meticulously researched and magnificently realized backdrop of European dissolution, Mason finds his few lost souls, and shepherds them toward an elusive peace. Lucius's 'dream of being able to see another person's thinking' is not only the controlling metaphor of The Winter Soldier but the work of literature more broadly."—Anthony Marra, New York Times

"Captivating...Early passages describing the hospital, its various characters, and the education that Lucius receives there--both medical and romantic--are among the many marvels of The Winter Soldier...It does what all the best novels do: creates a world in which readers pleasurably lose themselves."—Tom Beer, Newsday

"Part mystery, part war story, part romance, The Winter Soldier is a dream of a novel--impeccably researched and totally immersive. The unsinkable Margarete is a mesmerizing character, and the book's investigation into the psychiatric toll of war on its combatants could not be more timely. This novel convinces you with every sentence."—Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer-prize winning author of All the Light We Cannot See

"This is a great war novel, plunging you into the chaos of conflict and the unexpected consequences of a love that begins amid that chaos."—Lynn Neary, NPR (Best Books of 2018)

Like Listening To A Painter

Daniel Mason uses his words like a painter uses his paint brush. He is beautifully descriptive, making you feel like you can smell, hear and see what he is describing. He truly has a gift! Where he falls short, is in his plot. This story was long and drawn out, with a very disappointing climax. He leaves you with unanswered questions, and unresolved feelings...

Slow and stale

Narration was not good. Monologue. Story starts off very slowly. Took a while to get into it. Story location very descriptive and real. Ending a real let down.

A Doctors Story WWI

Although it has some slow spots, this is a compelling, well written story of a medical student learning to treat war injuries in a remote medical outpost. There are moving ( and gruesome) discriptions of some injuries, and the characterization is wonderful; these seem like real people. The ending is poignant, not a HEA, but it's the right one for this emotional journey. I really enjoyed this narrator, wonderful voice and clear pronouciation.

Loved every second of this book

It will spirit you away to Vienna, Poland, and many small towns along the European countryside during the first world war. The characters are fascinating! We see them stripped down to their essence. This author is genius. The relationships are fascinating. The conclusion: cathartic!

A Doctor's Story

As a physician, I have a particular interest in narratives and fiction by and about physicians. This well-written book will appeal to medical practitioners and students. It belongs on the same shelf as Arrowsmith, by Sinclair Lewis and The Cunning Man by Robertson Davies (both available on Audible). Osler wrote: "To talk of disease is an Arabian Night's experience." This holds true for The Winter Soldier. I look forward to more books by Daniel Mason.