Daniel Mason’s The Winter Soldier is a brilliant piece of literature that combines romance and suspense with an undertone of melancholy. Set against the backdrop of the First World War, the tale is an ode to the frailty and resilience of the human spirit, a detailed study of the mental tolls of war, and a read that is not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach.

The protagonist of the story is an aristocratic young Polish man, painfully awkward but intelligent, resourceful, and relatable. The unforgiving environment in which he finds himself is as much a supporting character as the mysterious and capable Sister Margarete, the emotionally damaged Horvath, and the rest of the cast. The punishing conditions, scarcity of supplies, and surplus of horror and shattered humanity is vividly portrayed, so much so that as I read I felt transported to the makeshift field hospital deep in the winter-gripped Carpathian Mountains on the Eastern Front.

The author’s writing is stunning and poetic, and his background as a physician and studies into psychiatry pepper the story with authenticity and a haunting study of post traumatic stress before it had a name. Dr. Mason’s meticulous research is apparent, and his prose is dense and richly eloquent. The descriptive language borders on tedious at points, though, and reduces the plot to a plodding, uneven pace. The story is slow to begin, taut after the first fifty pages, but slows again in the second half of the tale. That said, the overarching narrative is enthralling and the themes are universal: the lingering weight of guilt over decisions, the search for absolution and atonement, the somber triumph of the spirit, and the repercussions of war long after the last shots have been fired.

This is a human story set against the catalyst of a war that shook the foundations of society and catapulted the world into the modern era. Though it was a mere century ago, the medical practices that underscore the plot border on barbaric and primitive and make for difficult but noteworthy reading. The Winter Soldier is an evocative tale, one that is brutal and visceral, filled with stunning prose and emotional depth. This is a story that lingers in the mind long after the last page has been turned.

Highly recommended for fans of stories set against the backdrop of WWI that weave romance and mystery into a study of the medical practices of the era.