The Winter Warriors

About the book

When the Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939, they were not expecting the Finns to fight back – much less to prevail. Olivier Norek’s riveting, heart-pounding, epic historical thriller is a story of barely imaginable courage, astonishing resilience, and the best sniper the world has ever seen.

‘Impeccably researched and beautifully written, The Winter Warriors is perfect for fans of Ben Macintyre and Robert Harris’ Paula Hawkins

‘There are echoes of Vasily Grossman in this gripping, chillingly urgent story of the horrors and heroism of war’ A.D. Miller

‘A fascinating and gripping novel about a forgotten corner of the Second World War. Remarkable and revelatory’ William Boyd

‘A sniper’s life, a thriller of the highest quality, as timely as it is gripping, by a very fine writer’ Philippe Sands

***Over 270,000 copies sold in French***

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November, 1939. A conscription officer arrives in the peaceful farming village of Rautjärvi. The Soviet Union has invaded, and for the first time in its history as an independent country, Finland is at war.

Setting off into the depths of winter to face the Red Army, the small group of childhood friends recruited from Rautjärvi have no idea whether any of them will ever return home. But their unit has a secret weapon: the young sniper Simo Häyhä, whose lethal skill in the snow-bound forests of the front line will earn him the nickname ‘The White Death’.

Drawing on the real-life figures and battles of the Finnish-Soviet Winter War, The Winter Warriors is a riveting, heart-pounding, utterly epic historical thriller from one of Europe’s most acclaimed crime writers.

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‘The plot revolves around a small group of village lads who are conscripted together, one of whom, Simo, becomes the so-called White Death, one of the world's most deadly snipers … What makes it tick is the urgent, vital narrative as the Russians surge across the border and the Finns fight back with little more than grenades and rifles’ Bookbrunch
 
‘Chilling and distressing … a genuine, breath-holding knock-out’ Le Parisien

‘A masterpiece’ Le Figaro 

‘A dazzling success’La Croix 

‘Magificent’L’Express 

‘Captivating’ Télérama 

‘Exhaustively researched, subtle, sensitive, and set against the background of a war which resonates with the present day. There are more than a few similarities between this story and the current Russian aggression in Ukraine’ France Info

‘Norek depicts with great humanity and profound empathy the courage and resilience of the Finns, fighting for survival in extreme conditions’Actualitté

‘At once epic and intimate’ Radio Télévision Suisse
 

**Winner of the Prix Jean Giono, the Prix Renaudot des lycéens and the Prix Le Mans – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry**

**Finalist for the Prix Interallié** 

**Shortlisted for the Prix Renaudot, the Prix André Malraux and the Prix “Les Visionnaires”**

**Longlisted for the Prix Goncourt**

***Olivier Norek's thriller Between Two Worlds was The Times & Sunday Times Crime Novel of the Year 2024***