WINTERTIME

by Jan Valtin ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 11, 1950

The author of the much discussed Out of the Night has written a novel compact of the anguish of conquered Germany. In the story of the ill-starred romance of a ship's captain and a Lett refuges, stowaway on a ship bound for America, and remanded to Captain Helm for return to the ravaged port of Nordune, Jan Valtin has cross sectioned that cesspool that is Germany's down and outers today. One sees the processes by which even so good a man as Helm is perverted to the petty crimes of black marketeering, illegal trading, for the make of those he loves. Lisa, victim of Russian lust and violence, wins his love, and he hides her in a cellar near the ruins of his home -- and barters for her food and clothing and the wherewithal to start the tortuous process of rebuilding. Sought by the Communists who wish to find Lisa's guerilla brother Marous through her, Helm lives precariously -- and at length kills a man, his engineer, who would betray them both. Lisa is captured held secretly; Helm, with the help of a newspaperman, risks capture himself -- and later piracy to rescue her. And the story ends, with Marcus dead, Helm facing years of imprisonment, and Lisa, now his wife, still confident in their love. And always there is the trim background of misery, crime, squalor beyond itself, of haunted people living in ruins, of the unaware conquerors, on the verge of it all, in comfort, and of hate and suspicion and counter revolution. A gripping story; a too vivid picture; a love story against what sounds like an authentic setting; an ending that smocks of romantic sentimentality. This ran in shortened form in the L.H.J.

Pub Date: May 11, 1950

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Rinehart

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1950

Categories: FICTION