A D Miller - Snowdrops

review by Corinna Christopher on recorded show dec 2011

This book was short-listed for the Booker literary prize this year. Reading the first few chapters I wondered why but then as I progressed I thought it quite a clever story with much interesting background and a moral issue.

Snowdrops is a Moscow slang word for the bodies that float up into the light when the snow thaws, mostly drunks and homeless people who just give up, also murder victims.

Nick is a lawyer in Moscow working with a company wishing to exploit the transportation of oil from the frozen north. He has to deal with The Cossack a shady character who is the go-between and various other unscrupulous men. Any kind of business deals in Russia are fraught with numerous problems usually involving large sums of money in order to facilitate everything.

Nick whilst travelling on the metro one day becomes caught up in a assault on an attractive woman. This is Masha who together with her sister Katya seem grateful for his help. Soon Nick is seduced by the enigmatic Masha and seems to be unable to view his life sensibly. He cannot quite find out the truth about these women although he does recognise that they could be dangerous. He is taken to meet a lady Tatiana who is ostensibly known as an aunt. With his legal experience he is persuaded to help her in moving to another flat.

All is not what it seems and to tell more would spoil the plot and final outcome. There are wonderful insights into Moscow life with descriptions of, as Nick says, a crazy mix of filth and glory. We learn that after the 1st snowfall men in orange overalls emerge from far away places like Tajikstan or Uzbekistan to shovel up the snow. In Moscow there are more mobile phones than people because men had to have separate ones to speak to their mistresses. There were begging babushkas on the streets and QUOTE “ beneath the fur coats and grimaces, you know that the Russians were happy, relatively speaking. Because, along with the fatalism and the borsch, the snow is part of what makes them and nobody else”
The author from 2004 to 2007 was a magazine journalist in Russia and travelled widely. He has obviously a good knowledge of the country and this is a well-written book. The prose is precise and at the same time elegant with no unnecessary vagueness. I found it a worthwhile read.