Winter in Berlin

Details

Set in the East Germany of 1982, Winter in Berlin tells the story of a mysterious Scottish historian who has come to East Berlin to make a study of the historiographical treatment of Bismarck by East German scholars. But perhaps this is not his only reason. It is a time of serious unrest in Poland, barely 50 miles to the east, where the workers organised into the Solidarity union are challenging the Stalinist government. A secret socialist sympathiser, politically opposed to what he sees as the pseudo-socialism of the Stalinist GDR regime, the historian struggles to distribute socialist leaflets, smuggled from Britain, among the workers of East Berlin. Meanwhile he becomes embroiled in a passionate and complicated love affair with a young Bulgarian student. Closely monitored in all of his activities - legal and illegal - by both the East German authorities and the British Cultural Mission, it is only a matter of time before he is captured.

Additional Information

Title	Winter in Berlin
Author	Ian R. Mitchell
Binding	Paperback
ISBN-13	9781906817107
No. of Pages	192
Series	N/A
Edition	N/A
Author Bio	Originally from Aberdeen, Ian Mitchell has lived in Glasgow for the past thirty years. Winner of the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature for A View from the Ridge, historian Ian R. Mitchell gave up teaching to write full time. Ian's background in historical research, coupled with indepth personal experience of East Berlin in the 1980s, allows him to create an authentic historical novel. His previous exercise in historical fiction, Mountain Outlaw, was described by the renowned historian E J Hobsbawm as 'fascinating...a fine piece of work...more support for my ideas on social banditry.'
Back Cover Copy	'At home, incipient spring had been in evidence. Late January was mild and in London the trees showed buds. But after he began to travel East, it became colder. By the time the Elbe was crossed, the ground was fast with snow in all directions, and the river moved under grinding floes of ice. As the train stopped, the cook announced with an ironic smile he would grow used to, that Mitroba smile, 'Berlin Haupstadt der DDR. Wilkommen!'.' Two decades after the Wall tumbled down, Winter in Berlin evokes everyday life in the shadowy world of the Soviet-controlled German Democratic Republic. Throughout this atmospheric novella 'the scholar' remains anonymous. Who is he and what is his motivation for bein in the GDR, a police state where freedom means something different to everyone and trust is the scarcest commodity? Fearing that intimacy may be no more than a trap, he nevertheless slides into a relationship with a young Bulgarian woman. Behind the Wall many eyes are watching, but can he see himself clearly any more? Forced to interrogate the usefulness of his own idealism, the scholar finally comes up against the walls that limit an individual's influence on history.
Reviews	'What is intriguing about this about [Winter in Berlin] is its depiction of a period of history which, even for some of us of an older generation, is largely forgotten.' ANDREW DRUMMOND, novelist
Table of Contents	N/A
BISAC Subject	FICTION / General
BIC Subject	Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

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