Winter's End

Winter's End
by Jean-Claude Mourlevat
(translated by Anthea Bell)

Four students, Helen, Milena, Milos, and Bart, have run away from their respective prison-like boarding schools. Each of the four have something in common--their parents were all murdered fifteen years ago, which is why they are in these schools.

But only three make it to Jahn's restaurant, the headquarters of the Phalange resistance movement. The fourth is captured and forced into playing a barbaric game. If he doesn't play, he'll die. Can one voice stir a change of the brutal ways of the government?

Grade: A+

Before reading this novel, I had no idea what to expect. Honestly I thought I wouldn't enjoy it all that much. But I was oh so wrong. This novel was brilliant. I loved every moment of it. There was never a dull moment. This book was fast-paced and kept me wanting more until there was no more left to read. My only disappointment was the Epilogue, but only because it didn't explain much about Helen, so I was somewhat confused after reading it. Various parts of the novel seemed awful. Not bad awful, just awful. I couldn't believe how adults could be so rude to teens, just because of their parents! All in all, I enjoyed this book a lot. It wasn't a type of book I normally read, but I was pleasantly surprised by it.

*Winter's End is on shelves now!
**reviewed for TeensReadToo