Synopses & Reviews
After barely surviving his tour as a mountaineer in the Italian Alps of the Second World War, William Bromley settled down and made a quiet life for himself: teaching history at a London boarding school, reading, a few drinks at the pub on Friday nights. That all ends when a soldier from William's mountain regiment reappears, calling in a bargain struck during the war. William must return to that perilous ground, reliving the terror of the war and confronting new dangers in "a narrative so strong in imagery and detail that the reader can almost feel the gusts of an Alpine blizzard" (
Library Journal).
Paul Watkins is the author of nine novels, including The Forger, Archangel, and Night over Day over Night, as well as the memoir Stand Before Your God. He attended the Dragon School at Eton and Yale, and currently lives with his family in Princeton, New Jersey, where he teaches at the Peddie School and Lawrenceville Academy.
The year is 1950 and Captain William Bromley, formerly one of the world's greatest mountaineers, has retired into obscurity. Having barely survived the infamous Palladino Road, high in the Italian Alps during WWII, Bromley has sworn he will never climb again. It is only when a soldier from Bromley's old mountain regiment appears that his peaceful world begins to crumble. A terrifying request is made, and for reasons that have haunted Bromley since the battle at Palladino, he knows he cannot refuse. Bromley must now return to those same mountains that almost cost him his life, in order not only to confront the demons of his past, but to repay the debt that saved him years before.
The little-known role of the army's mountaineer corps comes to life in this story of a man pushed to the limits of endurance and survival, and haunted by the ghosts of war. "Watkins succeeds in communicating not only a visceral sense of the blood, noise and horror of the battlefield, but also an understanding of the consequences these conditions of violence can have on young, unformed minds."Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "Watkins writes fiction as thoughtful as it is stirring. His clean, Hemingwayesque prose speaks with urgency and beauty."Dan Cryer, Newsday
"A thinking man's action story . . . dynamic and violent, yet oddly tender in its narrative details."San Diego Union-Tribune "Digs into the rich earth of our forgotten pasts . . . Paul Watkins brings to life a time when mountaineers were the world's great adventurers, regaled in the newspapers and toasted in the streets."The Washington Post "Watkins's skill as a writer is indisputable, and as an adventure tale, The Ice Soldier offers unexpected pleasures."The Christian Science Monitor "Paul Watkins is without question one of the most gifted writers of his generation."Tobias Wolff "One can feel the scratch of the wool and the sting of the ice, taste the bean soup climbers eat and smell the smoke of the fire over which it was warmed. Plants the flag for good, manly storytelling."Kirkus Reviews "Watkins evokes the alluring beauty and treacherous danger of mountain climbing as he details the little-known role of the mountaineering corps in the war effort."Booklist "A narrative so strong in imagery and detail that the reader can almost feel the gusts of an Alpine blizzard."Library Journal "Gripping . . . Watkins is fluent in 'the languages of rock and cloud and ice,' and his empathy creates a clear portrait of a man refusing to be undone by the past."Publishers Weekly
Review
"Digs into the rich earth of our forgotten pasts . . . Paul Watkins brings to life a time when mountaineers were the world's great adventurers, regaled in the newspapers and toasted in the streets."--
The Washington Post
"Nails the dynamics of male-dominated environments and viscerally conveys the perils of mountaineering in staccato prose that would make Hemingway proud."--Entertainment Weekly
"One can feel the scratch of the wool and the sting of the ice, taste the bean soup climbers eat and smell the smoke of the fire over which it was warmed. Plants the flag for good, manly storytelling."--Kirkus Reviews
"Watkins's skill as a writer is indisputable, and as an adventure tale, The Ice Soldier offers unexpected pleasures."--The Christian Science Monitor "Gripping . . . Watkins is fluent in 'the languages of rock and cloud and ice,' and his empathy creates a clear portrait of a man refusing to be undone by the past."--Publishers Weekly "A narrative so strong in imagery and detail that the reader can almost feel the gusts of an Alpine blizzard."--Library Journal "Watkins evokes the alluring beauty and treacherous danger of mountain climbing as he details the little-known role of the mountaineering corps in the war effort."--Booklist
Synopsis
After barely surviving his tour as a mountaineer in the Italian Alps of the Second World War, William Bromley settled down and made a quiet life for himself: teaching history at a London boarding school, reading, a few drinks at the pub on Friday nights. That all ends when a soldier from William's mountain regiment reappears, calling in a bargain struck during the war. William must return to that perilous ground, reliving the terror of the war and confronting new dangers in "a narrative so strong in imagery and detail that the reader can almost feel the gusts of an Alpine blizzard" (Library Journal).
Synopsis
Haunted by his experiences during World War II, William Bromley has built a quiet life for himself as a history teacher at a London boarding school, but the reappearance of a former soldier from his mountain regiment forces William to confront his horrifying fears and memories by returning to the glacial peaks of northern Italy. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.
About the Author
Paul Watkins is the author of ten novels and the memoir Stand Before Your God. He attended The Dragon School, Eton, and Yale, and currently lives with his family in Princeton, New Jersey, where he teaches at the Peddie School and Lawrenceville Academy.