Winters in the South Hardcover – 27 Sept. 2012

Set in Austria, Argentina and Yugoslavia, Norbert Gstrein's interestingly titled 'Winters in the South' focuses on Marija, fifty years old, living in Vienna and married to an egotistical, well-known journalist who, in the earlier days of their relationship was a Communist revolutionary - a man whom Marija once admired, but with whom she is now disillusioned. The story also focuses on Marija's father and on Ludwig, a former Austrian policeman, trying to escape memories of the death of his girlfriend in a shooting incident.The main part of the story is set in 1991, when war breaks out in Yugoslavia, but with the use of flashbacks, the author shows how the turmoil of the Second World War and the years between, have had a far-reaching effect on Marija and her father. In the early part of the novel we learn how Marija and her mother fled Croatia, at the end of the Second World War, and made a home in Vienna waiting in vain for Marija's father, a staunch anti-Communist, to follow. When her father does not appear at their agreed meeting place year after year, and Marija and her mother receive no communication from him, they presume he is dead and get on with living their lives without him. Marija, however, cannot forget her early years and keeps a photograph of her father as a young soldier with her, wondering how her life might have been if it had not been necessary for her to leave her homeland. When Marija learns that Yugoslavia is on the brink of another war, she decides to leave behind her unsatisfactory relationship with her husband and return to the country of her birth, despite her husband's disapproval and derision of her plans.In Argentina, exiled from his homeland, lives Marija's father who, unbeknownst to Marija, was not captured and killed as thought, but is now married to his third wife and the father of two young girls (not a spoiler, we learn this early on in the novel). Marija's father, who is referred to as 'the old man' throughout the story, fired up by news of the Balkan conflict, is making plans to return to Zagreb, determined to be present in his homeland "now that the struggle, unfinished all those years ago, was being resumed." In preparation for his return, the old man practises every day in his purpose-built shooting range and employs former policeman, Ludwig, as his associate. When Marija and the old man return to the country of their birth and Marija learns that her father is still alive, Marija not only has to cope with the conflict of war erupting around her, but she has also to deal with inner conflicts of love and betrayal. And whilst she is trying to cope with all of this, Marija also has to decide whether she has a marriage worth returning to.'Winters in the South' is a story of war, deception, hypocrisy and of personal and civil conflicts. I found this a well-written and interesting story, but not as emotive or intriguing as I had hoped and, although I sympathised with Marija in some respects, I was not really drawn to the characters or their dilemmas as much as I would have liked or would have expected, but I cannot explain further without revealing spoilers. That said, Norbert Gstrein writes compellingly, using language rich with imagery, and there were some interesting, if unsettling, aspects to this story concerning the tragedy of war and its aftermath, deception and betrayal, and the meaning of identity and belonging.3.5 Stars.