L'impossible retour

Amélie Nothomb

Description

<h3>Gazed upon from the valleys between,</h3>

the high mountains may seem beautiful and serene places. The domain of wild things and of hunters, and wanderers with a little more wilderness in their blood.

But the mountains are also mysterious places, that hide secrets long lost to the inhabitants of the lowlands.

When a photograph of a remote high mountain valley comes into the hands of young wanderer, it ignites a fascination within him, that quickly grows into a compulsion to find and visit this place.

Only accessible in the winter, and rumoured to be a place never touched by the warmth of summer, this hidden place seems to hold traces of antiquity and dreams of what once were.

Like all good ghost stories, The Ghosts of Winter is a haunting tale of supernatural and ageless mystery, which can almost but not quite be rationalised, that will leave many readers pondering the implications.

The revised 2019 edition now also includes a bonus short story - Death and the Creator, which was the first attempt at writing the Ghosts of Winter.

Frequently asked questions – answered by the author.

Question: Where did the inspiration for the The Ghosts of Winter come from?

Answer: The decision to try and write a winter ghost which featured skiing came to me as a suggestion made by one of friends who composes and performs his own music. We been chatting about where we should go for our next ski and snowboarding holiday, and on a whim I suggested he should try and compose a piece of music which evoked the mountains in winter. Well he rose to the challenge, but in return he suggested I should do the same by writing a ghost story with the same backdrop.

Question: What about other authors, this title is dedicated to several horror/ghost story writers including H.P. Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood and Walter de la Mare etc , but are there any more contemporary authors you consider to be an influence as well?

Answer: Absolutely, I don't like anything too grisley, but Susan Hill is one name which springs immediately to mind for her Woman in Black story, Sarah Perry's Essex Serpent is another.

Question: All your stories to date are set in the 1930s, is there something about this period that you find particularly interesting and will we continue to see your stories in this period?

Answer: I'd like to say there's some great reason for this, but actuality I set my Flames of Time series in the 30s because of a simple plot device relating to when the narrator is telling the story. Once I'd decided on the time period and started doing my research, I realised that period was great blend of the familiar and alien that I thought would make a great setting for the low-fantasy type of stories that I like to tell.

Question: Finally, who do you think would enjoy your Ghosts of Winter story?

Answer: I'd like to think it would make a nice gift for anyone who enjoys winter sports in high mountains, the kind of terrain where the story is set, but aside from them I hope it will appeal to anyone who likes old fashioned style of suspense/thriller stories.

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