Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Jody Fields, author of The Winter Station published in January by Little Brown.

Jody has Also written The Crimson Portrait and the very popular The Fig Eater.

She is also a screenwriter and has edited for NYT Magazine and American Vogue.

So, The Winter Station is set in Kharbin in about 1910. Kharbin is a kind of wasteland city in a freezing climate, sharing a culture that interweaves Russians and Chinese and a political influence by the Japanese. Which seems confusing but which is explained quite succinctly.

The story is based on a real Manchurian plague. People are dying everywhere, their deaths are covered up by the autocrat General Khorvat and others, while the Baron our hero works with his quirky and sneaky confidante and friend Andreev and the dwarf Chang, who deals In the event you did not receive my last, tea ceremony as well as in providing knowledge.

The Baron also says a lovely wife but also rivals like Dr. Wu who do not approach the plague with same type of logic and reason as does the Baron.

It’s a thriller, mystery and kind of true story that Jody weaves into a really readable story that reminds us of the past and makes us think carefully about our future.