Winter War

Finland-Swede Philip Teir is considered one of the most promising young writers in Scandinavia. His poetry and short stories have been included in anthologies, including Granta Finland. The Winter War is his first novel. He is married with two children and lives in Helsinki, Finland, in the same neighbourhood as the Paul family.

Presented as Scandinavia's answer to Jonathan Franzen, Teir offers a similarly sardonic yet sympathetic critique of a multi-generational family...remarkable eye for human behaviour...an intelligent debut -- Hayden East Telegraph cool yet compassionate...bitingly funny...engrossing The Lady funny, sharply observed and very readable Press Association Written with unshowy care and thought...there's something Anglo-Americanly, unScandinavianly familiar about the way Teir tackles these domestic and emotional entanglements - only with weird Finnish names, very heavy snowfall and temperatures that reach -20 Celsius -- Harry Ritchie Daily Mail sharply observed novel...Teir is a highly regarded Scandinavian writer and his creation Max lives in Helsinki, but this quietly devastating picture of middle-class disaffection could just as well be set in Islington. Shot through with understated black humour and nicely balanced between tender and acerbic, this impressive novel is a forceful reminder that there is much more to Scandinavian writing than crime fiction -- Phil Baker Sunday Times Quietly absorbing...well-conceived domestic drama...While the book may be acid about Helsinki's middle class, it is not cynical. Indeed, there is warmth even in its darkest moments -- Josh de la Mare FT Somewhere between Richard Yates and John Updike, but with a Nordic temperament that is cooler ... Teir writes about an academic middle class family with a realism that is both ironically compassionate and warmly critical Expressen Little short of brilliant ... The Winter War is firmly rooted in an Anglo-Saxon tradition, alongside writers such as Julian Barnes, Alan Hollinghurst and Jeffrey Eugenides Jonkopings-Posten