The Winter Warriors: A Novel

A GUARDIAN BEST BOOK OF 2025

"A novel you will not put down. Maybe never."—Richard Ford

With over 600,000 copies sold, an award-winning WWII novel about the heroism of a single Finnish infantry company—and the best sniper the world has ever seen—defending their country against the largest army in the world

November 1939: The Soviet Union invades its small, relatively defenseless neighbor Finland, just three months after the declaration of World War II. So began what is known as the Winter War. A makeshift Finnish army of soldiers, workers, and farmers must face off against columns of tanks and millions of Stalin's Red Army fighters.

In a dramatic and deeply moving narrative based in part on diaries, journals, and accounts of participants, Norek captures the horror and tragedy of war. Soldiers go to battle with a shortage of weapons, and cold becomes both enemy and friend—causing wounds to freeze...