Winter Fire

The first trade paperback edition of Trotter's debut novel about the brutality of war and the awesome power of music that the New York Times Book Review called "haunting ... with a terrifying climax" Historian and novelist William Trotter's critically acclaimed fictional debut--under development as a major motion picture by Victory Productions--explores the deep forests of Finland with Nazi intelligence officer Erich Ziegler, a gifted orchestra conductor swept up in the maelstrom of world war. Laden with the magic of Norse legends, the savage power of the northern forests, and the horrors of the Finnish and Eastern fronts, this tale burns with the fuel of timeless music and an ancient civilization. Called upon to investigate the loyalties of the highly cultured Finns and keep them allied to the Nazi cause, Ziegler meets the famed composer Jean Sibelius. Obsessed by the genius of Sibelius's mysterious Eighth Symphony and bewitched by a beautiful servant named Kylliki, one act of defiance against his superiors lands Ziegler in the middle of the fire and ice of the Russian front. When he returns from the apocalypse of total war to the home of his revered composer and beloved forest maiden, he has been transformed into the ruthless soldier he once professed to despise. Exhibiting his outstanding knowledge of military battles, and his peerless mastery of place and the cadences of music, Trotter, author of the acclaimed The Sands of Pride, has written a timeless novel for historical fiction fans, military buffs, music lovers, and those fascinated by Norse mythology.