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Loading... Jeux d'hiver (edition 2012)by Rachel Johnson, Daphné Bernard (Traduction), Henri Bernard (Traduction)
Work InformationWinter Games by Rachel Johnson
   No current Talk conversations about this book.  Jennie_103 | Jan 26, 2014 |   The modern day story especially is exclusively populated by deeply unpleasant characters -- and even the main protagonist, Francie, is self-absorbed and horrible, with no real personality. The author wants us to sneer at the extravagance of rich people, while at the same time describing all their possessions and houses in loving detail. Thus we end up with twaddle like "it was as if giving away more of other people's money made them [bankers, brokers and fund managers] feel better about having helped themselves to so much of it. Their largesse extended to their trophy wives -- gym bunnies nibbling on a crumb of gluten-free pecan brownie between Pilates and their child's tennis lesson -- or their nubile girlfriends." What a depressing picture of humanity, or perhaps just North London, where all these horrible people (Francie, her boring advertising husband, her odious boss, her snarky best friend...) live. The 1930s sections were better, except the protagonist Daphne isn't very dynamic, she just lets things happen around her while staring gormlessly. Frustratingly, I could tell there was a really interesting story about debutante English girls and their families enjoying Nazi Germany before the war, and their subsequent guilt after the war, but it didn't come to life here. And such a story doesn't need an unwanted pregnancy subplot. The cover is nice. (  ) Yarrow | Mar 3, 2013 | Seventy years later, a travel journalist called Francie is drawn to try and find out what actually happened to her grandmother, now in residential care and not really able to tell her own story. Daphne is from an assimilated Jewish family and I was intrigued by a story about her visit to Nazi Germany. Several other issues offer plenty of scope for a good read, but this was a rather disappointing novel. The narrative flowed easily enough and I read it quickly, but I never really got a sense of any of the characters - even Daphne and Francie remained two dimensional and some of the other people in the book weren't even that, and that made it hard for me to care what happened in the story. (  )1  elkiedee | Feb 21, 2013 | no reviews | add a review
Winter Games is a dazzling tale of secrets and betrayal, and the perfect novel for fans of The Bolter by Frances Osborne, and all those fascinated by the Mitford sisters. Munich, 1936. She doesn't know it, but eighteen-year old Daphne Linden has a seat in the front row of history. Along with her best friend, Betsy Barton-Hill, and a whole bevy of other young English upper-class girls, Daphne is in Bavaria to improve her German, to go to the Opera, to be 'finished'. It may be the Third Reich, but another war is unthinkable, and the girls are having the time of their lives. Aren't they? London, 2006. Seventy years later and Daphne's granddaughter, Francie Fitzsimon has all the boxes ticked: large flat, successful husband, cushy job writing up holistic spas . . . The hardest decision she has to make is where to go for brunch - until, that is, the discovery of a photograph of Daphne sends her on a quest to discover what really happened to her grandmother in Germany, all those years ago. A dazzling tale of secrets and betrayal, Winter Games is powerful novel of innocent lives caught up in the march of history. 'Johnson has a brilliant eye for the telling specifics . . . She is a natural comic writer and has a breezy, Mitfordian tone that makes you laugh at the same time as wincing in recognition . . . To write an entertaining romp set against the backdrop of Nazi Germany is a tricky feat to pull off. Yet Johnson has done it - and done it in style' Observer 'A rip-roaring read' Evening Standard 'There's never a dreary moment in this blast of a book . . . Johnson's descriptions are irresistibly exuberant . . . As addictively, fizzily invigorating as the Alpine air itself' Daily Mail 'Johnson delivers a genuine sense of time and place . . . there isn't a dull sentence in this sure-footed novel' Jenny Colgan, Telegraph 'An excellent romp. Full of 'tally-ho' Mitfordian charm . . . a witty, fast read' Red 'Excellent on period detail, the blundering innocent abroad and young heartbreak' Sunday Times 'The Jane Austen of W11' Scotsman Rachel Johnson is a journalist who has written two previous novels and two volumes of diaries. The Mummy Diaries, Notting Hell, Shire Hell and A Diary of The Lady are all available now from Penguin. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.92Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 2000-RatingAverage: (2.86)
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Wikipedia in English
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It is a family history dream of discovering such a huge story, and especially whilst she is still alive to be persuaded to tell her story.
The winter games themselves are actually a very small part of the story and really, it's about families and the secrets they can have. (