- Published: 07/11/2013
- ISBN: 9781846275357
- Granta Books
- 144 pages
A Meal in Winter
Hubert Mingarelli
Translated by Sam Taylor
One morning, in the dead of winter, three German soldiers head out into the frozen Polish countryside. They have been charged by their commanders to track down and bring back for execution ‘one of them’ – a Jew. Having flushed out a young man hiding in the woods, they decide to rest in an abandoned house before continuing their journey back to the camp. As they prepare food, they are joined by a passing Pole whose virulent anti-Semitism adds tension to an already charged atmosphere. Before long, the group’s sympathies begin to splinter as each man is forced to confront his own conscience as the moral implications of their murderous mission become clear.
£7.99
The most moving book I have read for a long time... Mingarelli's spare language is well suited to this luminous tale... he accomplishes a great deal
Peter Carty, Independent on Sunday
The "banality of evil" finds beautiful, spare expression in this remarkable novella
Ian McEwan
A masterpiece