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    Gingerbread
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    Gingerbread
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    Gingerbread
    Audiobook13 hours

    Gingerbread

    Written by Robert Dinsdale

    Narrated by Jonathan Keeble

    4/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

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    About this audiobook

    In the depths of winter in the land of Belarus, where ancient forests straddle modern country borders, an orphaned boy and his grandfather go to scatter his mother's ashes in the woodlands. But the driving snow also hides a frozen history of long-buried secrets. And as man and boy travel deeper among the trees, grandfather's tales begin to interweave with the shocking reality of his own past.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherW. F. Howes Ltd
    Release dateJun 5, 2014
    ISBN9781471264139
    Unavailable
    Gingerbread
    Author

    Robert Dinsdale

    Robert Dinsdale was born in North Yorkshire and currently lives in Leigh-on-Sea. He is the author of five previous critically acclaimed novels including the bestselling The Toymakers, which was his first venture into magic.

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    Reviews for Gingerbread

    4/5

    16 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      ‘’Once, all of the world was covered in forests. But, slowly, over the years, those forests were driven back - by people just like us. They chopped them down to make timber, and burned them to make farms. But this little corner of the world where we live is very special. Because half our country is covered in forests that have been chopped or cut back. The oaks in these forests are hundreds of years old. They’ve grown wizened and wise. And those forests have seen it all: the Russian, and Poland, and Germany, emperors and kings and too many wars. Those trees would tell some stories, if only they could speak!’’In a city close to a dark forest in Belarus, a little boy is carrying a heavy burden. Without a father and with his beloved mother facing a critical illness, Alek is forced to remain in the care of his papa, his mother’s father, a man formidable, terrifying and seemingly wise. His grandfather is troubled and troubling but Alek has given a promise to his mama and cannot take it back. He has to face the dark forest, the hungry trees, the shadows of the past. Above all, he has to protect his sanity from a man who was treated unjustly by forces darker than the thickest canopies of the threatening forest…‘’The forests are alive, boy. They live and love and hate, just the same as you and me.’’The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale is one of the most unique, beautiful, magical books I’ve ever read. Gingerbread is very different but no less haunting and powerful. Where The Toymakers is full of the magic of Christmas, Gingerbread is adorned with the darkness and mystery of the Slavic fairy tales and nature. The dark forest with the bloodthirsty trees and the carnivorous shadows becomes a metaphor for a man’s tortured soul and a boy’s agony to stay true to his vow while protecting the ones he loves from a wrath that is blind and unjust. Forest folklore, Belarusian history, Slavic culture, Baba Yaga, Ded Moroz, the spirits that reside in centuries-old trees...A painting of legends and traditions by a brilliant artist.‘’Well, smiled the first wise man -for he had woven a trap of words, and caught at the soldier, If you would rather be in the woods than serving the Winter King, you are his enemy. So now you must be banished to the farthest east, to the world of Perpetual Winter, and there you must toil in your king’s service, in that great frozen city called Gulag.’’Apart from the unseen world, though, there is a harsh reality that Alek must face. Gingerbread provides a realistic depiction of a person fighting cancer. It hurts so much because this is a young mother that won’t have the chance to see her wonderful, clever boy become a man. Dinsdale writes about an unbearably painful subject in a quiet, sensitive way and the result is extremely powerful. A boy is forced to grow up viciously fast, experiencing a strange, cruel world and a grandfather whose heart and soul have been haunted by the Soviet horrors.History is never far away in this story and I am glad to finally meet a writer who refers to the partisans as the heroes they were. After the abominable In The Shadow of Wolves by Alvydas Slepikas. Because, let’s face it, that writer wanted the reader to feel sorry for the people who didn’t give a damn about the Holocaust, who ‘’didn’t know’’. I am sorry, Nazi writer, get out! Dinsdale is a magnificent writer who writes with respect, perspective and above all, he is knowledgeable and objective. He doesn’t take his readers for uninformed fools. The way he has created the allusions to refer to the Soviet Era is outstanding, haunting and heartbreaking. The Winter King, the King in the West, the land of Perpetual Winter, the Iron Wall…The last chapters of the novel are pure agony. I felt my mind spinning and my heart was pounding with horror. The ending is superb. Each character - Alek, papa, mama, Elenya, Mr Navitski- deserves a book of their own. This is how Literature becomes an unforgettable experience.‘’But other trees saw the work of the King in the West and were filled with joy. Because trees feed on dead things, and send their roots down to drink them up, and when the King in the West killed in the forests, some trees were tempted to feed on the murdered men. And those trees grow mighty and powerful, with branches made from dead men, and there in the forests, the trees that have drunk on the dead of the wars of winter - for those are the trees whose trunks have the faces of men. For that is their curse, to forever wear the features of the men they have eaten.’’
    • 3/5
      Those forests...ruled by no man or beast. And that makes them the wildest, most free place on Earth.',, March 13, 2015This review is from: Gingerbread (Hardcover)Set in the age-old forests of Belarus, young Alek is brought by his dying Mama to live with his grandfather. When the two of them venture out into the woods to bury her ashes, Grandfather becomes increasingly obsessed with living in the wild; the 'fairy stories' he tells, soon help the reader understand the events of his past; from 'the King of the West' laying siege, to the 'Winter King sending his subjects to 'that land called Perpetual Winter, where stirs the great frozen city called Gulag.'Much of the novel is a 'man and boy' tale: lots of hunting, building shelters, contending with the snow.....But the outside world is still there...Described on the cover as a combination of McCarthy's 'The Road' and the Brothers Grimm (I would add with a twist of 'The Shining'), this seemed to me more of a YA read. Although it's 420 pages, it's quite a quick read; I sat and read the whole thing in a day. At times I felt I'd had enough of the detailed descriptions of forest life (I felt the same about 'The Road'), and I wasn't entirely convinced by Elenya. But certainly the author creates a vivid picture of the 'pushcha' forestlands of Belarus, and a spirit of wildness.
    • 5/5
      Came across this great read on a blog I follow and so pleased that I followed it up. This is one of my memorable reads for the year.It's set in the forests of Belarus, where a boy and his grandfather end up living in the wild after they go to scatter the boy's mother's ashes by the ruins of the cottage she grew up in. The trees 'reclaim' the grandfather as he reenters his past memories which he retells along with folktales about Baba Yaga until reality and fairytale merge. The Winter King (Stalin) takes the soldier from the Iron Wall to the place of Perpetual Winter where he must escape from The Great Frozen City Called Gulag back to the Baba's House. The boy's last promise to his mama is to look after his grandfather no matter what, but nobody could have known what that would entail. The writing is just beautiful, the story clever and at times brutal. There is also lots of cold cold snow...hunger and hunting.