Winter of the World

Germany, 1933. The Nazi Party is tightening its hold, and a new generation, the children of those who lived through the previous war, must live in a country remade by ideology and violence.

Carla von Ulrich is the daughter of a German aristocrat and an Englishwoman. She trains as a nurse and joins the resistance. Her brother Erik, a former soldier, serves on the Eastern Front, where he faces the horrors of the fighting in his own way.

The book is a historical novel with a large cast. The families of Carla and Erik's friends and allies live in other parts of the world, and the same war draws them together. The peace that follows leaves them uncertain, and the first years of the Cold War bind them again.

The story runs from 1933 to 1949. Its characters live through the Third Reich's rise, then the Battle of Berlin, then the opening years of the Cold War. It covers sixteen years and moves between family and global events, so it suits readers who want a broad span of history told through personal stakes.