Join AD Miller to talk about SNOWDROPS, our January Book of the Month, on Tuesday Jan 31, 9-10pm

[TillyBookClub]

Shortlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize, January's Book of the Month is a superbly chilling novel that's perfect for frozen winter days.

SNOWDROPS is set in the tawdry, corrupt underbelly of Moscow, where murder victims lie hidden in the snow until the spring thaw brings them to the surface. Nick, a high flying British lawyer, has begun a new life in the city, negotiating with oil barons, exploring the maze of streets crammed with expense-account brothels, power plants, glitzy restaurants and gridlocked traffic. His guide is the enigmatic Masha, who inexorably reels him into a morally ambiguous and self-deluded love affair.

Cool, complex and menacing, this is, as the Spectator put it 'a heady noseful of Moscow, an intoxicating perfume that will whirl you off your feet and set your moral compass spinning'.

You can find out more at our book of the month page.

Atlantic are giving 50 free copies to Mumsnetters - to claim yours, send your name and address to [email protected], putting Mumsnet/Snowdrops in the Subject Bar.

And if you're not lucky enough to bag one of those, don't forget you can get your paperback or version here

We're delighted that A.D Miller will be joining us for the webchat on Tuesday 31 January, 9-10pm. Look forward to seeing you there.

I do hope, by the way, that you took my jesting in good part?

I'm just jealous of your success.

thanks for answering my question. disappointed there will not be another russian book. what are you currently working on?

"our ability to deceive ourselves, in particular to tell ourselves that true responsibility lies elsewhere" really sums up how i would describe this book. although i was disappointed by the ending, it was probably because i was hoping for an unrealistic human response.

envious

@whereismywine

This wasn't the crime/murder/thriller that the blurb lead me to think but I enjoyed the depiction of Russia very much. I've never been to Russia and now Mr Miller I don't think I ever will. I can still picture the scenes of Russia you created and for me, this was the aspect of the book that will stay with me. I found your characters mostly unlikeable though and agree that would have liked a snippet more about why the whopper of a letter was being written. Had I received such a letter, I would have been looking to see if I couldnreturn my dress and cancel the venue.

My question is this - how did you anticipate Nick being received by readers? I found him exasperating. Was this the intention?

The short answer is yes. I hope that at the beginning of the book he comes across as a reasonably likeable, recognisable sort of guy?not a hero, but not a villain either. He?s a drifting, lonely 30-something. He?s nice to his neighbour and gives money to beggars. But he changes, and because of his circumstances and self-deception, comes to behave in ways that he might never have imagined. So yes, absolutely, you?re supposed to judge him; if you like him by the end, I?ve done something wrong! But at the same time, I hope readers will be able to follow what he does, and understand why he does it.

By the way, if you find your wine, could you take a look for my whiskey?

But presumably also he lost out on the £25k, and Masha and Katya conned HIM too? Or did delirium take over and I miss that bit?

I do wonder, what was the point of the pretend sister watching them have sexy time?

@Teaddict

Hello Mr Miller, am halfway through Snowdrops and really enjoying it. I agree with whereismywine that your amazing descriptions of Russia make me never want to visit! My question/s are how long did you have to spend in those horrendous winters to be able to describe it so well and is this really an accurate depiction of the Russia of today or have things moved on since then (i.e. do the attractive girls still try and hook an Oligarch as a career path?)

Hi Teaddict and thanks for your question. As I think I?ve said, I spent three years in Russia, working as a foreign correspondent. Actually I quite liked the winters, in a way?albeit not the day when Moscow was the coldest it had been since 1941, and the zip on my coat broke.
On your question about the depiction of Russia: I?d like to stress this isn?t a comprehensive portrait of Moscow, let alone Russia. There are lots of other stories you could tell about that country, including heroic ones: the best and bravest people I?ve ever met have been Russians. This is a first-person vision of Moscow through the eyes and experiences of one louche expat?an account that I hope ultimately reflects on him and his weaknesses as much as on the setting.
But on the other hand, the kinds of crime that the book describes, the pervasive corruption it depicts and the vulnerability of people without powerful connections, like Tatiana, are real. The sort of apartment fraud that is at the heart of the story is in a way the quintessential post-Soviet crime: it happened an awful lot in the 1990s and still goes on today. And you don?t have to take my word for that: Russia?s leaders frequently bang on about the evils of the corruption, since they could hardly deny it. In those ways, I?m afraid, things haven?t changed much.

@glitch

I always manage to miss the live chats so I will leave my question now. I've read that you have been both a journalist and a fiction author. Which do you prefer to read and also which you prefer to write? Are you a big fiction fan and if so, what book have you got on the go at the moment?

Hi glitch.
Yes I read a lot of fiction (insofar as I read anything much these days: we have a four-year-old girl and a nine-month-old boy, so I mostly read the Gruffalo). At the moment I?m reading Fathers and Sons by Turgenev.
I enjoy both journalism and novel-writing and hope to carry on with both. I?m only a novice fiction author, but it seems to me that the challenges of the two are not as different as you might think. Yes, in a novel, you?ve got the freedom and the burden of invention (I?m aware that some people think that comes naturally to journalists). But in other ways, there?s a lot of overlap: the big challenges, or some of them, are decision-making (there are an infinite number of directions in which a chapter or a paragraph or even a sentence can go); structure; above all the morale of the author. Digressions in an article and sub-plots in a novel are both hard to pull off. Beginnings and endings are always tough. I think a journalistic background is in some ways quite useful for writing novels. Apart from anything else, it means you?re used to criticism.

Speaking of which: I'll get to your questions I hope Hullygully

You don't have to, I don't mind. My son has just read this thread and told me I'm horrid so I might go and beat myself with the old birch sticks in the nearly-snow in the garden.

@kumquatsarethelonelyfruit

Oh, and another -

The male characters (Nick et al) are pretty vile and exploitative. Do you see your novel as having a feminist message?

I?m really pleased that you?ve asked me this (and good pen name, by the way). Hully has asked me a version of the same thing. Again, short answer: yes.

When you send a book into the world, you have to be prepared for people to respond in all kinds of ways that you weren?t expecting and might not like (as in some of the posts in this discussion). But something that has been a bit distressing for me is for readers to confuse the voice of the narrator with the message of the book. This is Nick?s account of himself; these are his views, even his style and syntax. I wanted readers to judge Nick?not least in his attitude to women, which is pretty exploitative and sleazy. The way men like him?and there are quite a lot of them?think about women, and what that leads them to do, is one of the themes of the book.

Interestingly, al jazeera have an article on their website today about people being removed from their homes in St Petersburg
www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2012/01/201213173411567288.html
Suggests that the problems you write about in the book aren't entirely in the past...

@Whizpuff

I enjoyed this book and surprisingly enjoyed the inevitability of the story, I suppose I felt smug thinking that I could see what was happening while Nick couldn't (nice piece of flattery for the reader :)

Something I really would like to know is what does AD Miller think happened to the old lady?

Hi Whizpuff. Like Nick, I?m afraid she has probably come to a sticky end. But I think I feel a lot sadder about that than Nick does. On the inevitability thing: this is a "how" book, not a "what" book. You find out on page 1 that something awful will happen, and somewhere along the way you will work out roughly what it is. I wanted the reader to see ahead of Nick, and think ?oh no, don?t?--then see how he did it anyway

@mrsbaldwin

I can't join the chat unfortunately as I am in another time zone (!!)

But I am reading Snowdrops at the moment - about a third of the way through. I think it's brilliantly good.

My question is:

• do all these marvellous metaphors and other literary devices in the book just come out onto the page for you or do you have to work hard to get them right, frowning over them for hours?

[NB zeugma: "he had a boy band fringe, a ten thousand dollar suit and a murderer's smile"]

Looking forward to your next novel.

Thank you very much indeed mrsbaldwin. The answer is: it?s all work. Yes, sometimes a turn of phrase sort of comes to you, but then you have to make it fit, iron it out, and in some cases cross it out. There are a few places in the book where I think perhaps I should have done more of that. But I?d rather take risks with my writing, and try to make it interesting, than play safe. I hope you enjoy the rest of the novel--and safe travels.

Adding to whereismywine's question, and your answer:

Were any of Nick's personality traits inspired by foreign/war correspondents that you've met through work? It seemed to me, especially at the end, when Nick is mourning his 'full' life in Russia and bemoaning his 'thin' life ahead, that he is addicted to the thrill and the messiness and the 'otherness' of it all. And that seems to be a strong tradition amongst foreign correspondent journalists too...

@champagnesupernova

Hello all.

I liked the comment about the perplexed potato.

I did enjoy the book.

I have not been well and though it felt like a page turner, wasn't desperate to get back to it. But as I said, I have not been well.

It sort of felt like a beach book, but not sure I would fancy reading about all that snow and cold on the beach

Actually, I was reading on my kindle so more like a "thumb-presser"

I haven't thought of any questions yet for you Mr Miller, other than perhaps a shallow one "why initials and not your name?"

Will watch with interest.

Hi champagnesupernova. I know it sounds like a bit of an affectation, but in fact there?s a perfectly innocent explanation. My first name is Andrew, but Andrew Miller is taken at the moment (by the author of Pure, which just won the Costa book prize). I guess I could have invented something, like, I dunno, Tarquan Hunter, but instead I retreated into initials.

I think we can all be a Titiana sometimes, its as fun to go along for the ride despite the consequences, she and Nick take it to extremes, but sometimes its as fun to stay on the bus as it is scary to get off. Not that I am advocating having your flat stolen and probably being murdered, but it had its moments of suspended disbelief and adventure for her. I hope she is picking mushrooms somewhere.

Hi to any Book Buddies following this!
I am watching the thread with interest, having only read the first few chapters so far. I have to say I'm enjoying the read so far (having really struggled with the last few book choices of my lovely Book Buddies group).
I am mostly reading 'The Gruffalo's Child' at the moment & 'Charlie's Superhero Underpants', so it's good to get stuck into something for me. Thank you.

Quite like Tarquan Hunter. Will look out for the seat of your pants tales of daring-do...

@Greedygirl

Thought I better pop on to balance out the naysayers

I really enjoyed the book. I didn't think that the letter was really meant to be read by his finance, I imagined it was Nick just pouring out his heart in a dear diary kind of matter to be chucked on the fire - is this the case or do you imagine that Nick actually intended to give the letter to his girlfriend? In which case, he is indeed thick.

How do you respond to those people who think it is full of stereotypes? I have just read The Help and really enjoyed that but that has also been accused of being stereotypical. Is it based on your experiences?

Thanks Greedygirl; I'm pleased you liked it. Well, obviously I don?t agree with them?except in the sense that, as some stereotypes do, the sorts of people who are characters in my book really do exist. There are indeed some thuggish businessmen in Russia who, like the Cossack in my story, have progressed from crime to business and finally into politics. I could name some for you but I don?t think mumsnet?s lawyers would thank me. There are lots of baffled old people and some unscrupulous young ones. Sex is a big industry in high-rolling central Moscow?ie the part of it that Nick frequents. I think most people who have spent time there would recognise these features.
In any case, whatever you think of my characters, I hope there are some details of Russian life--what the Metro is like, or the suburban trains, or Moscow architecture or the different phases of the winter?that might be new and interesting to you

@lilyfire

I really enjoyed Snowdrops and I'm so pleased you are on here, because as soon as I finished the book there was a question I really wanted to ask you:

When I was reading the book I was thinking a lot about Crime and Punishment. Nick seemed to be a modern day Raskolnikov, a lawyer, but without any pretence of ideology and so his involvement in the death of Tatiana was through inaction (not action like Raskolnikov and his 'old woman'); Masha is like Sonia, but without virtue or religion, she's just pragmatic. How much were you thinking about Crime and Punishment when you were writing the book?

Hi lilyfire and thanks for this great question. Yes, I think Dostoevsky was definitely lurking somewhere at the back of my mind when I wrote Snowdrops. Nobody does filthy honesty better than him: love that contains hate, conversations that are really wars, etc. I am in no way making a comparison, but I am sort of gripped by some of the same things that exercised him: what is a crime, who commits it?ie, just the person who wields the knife or other people too, passively or otherwise?and how do they live with themselves afterwards? In a way I think the Brothers Karamazov was an even bigger influence than C&P.

Maybe the problem then for me is that Nick simply didn't convince as a character.

I still want to know the point of the pretend sister watching the sexy time?

Thanks Andrew (may I call you that?)
Fair enough. How annoying about the other chap.
Also please can you answer my question about the £25K? am going mad

Thanks for a great read. I particularly liked the fact that what the reader thought would happen - Nick coming to his senses and 'saving the day' - didn't! For me this made it a much more interesting book contemplating the human psyche and how ordinary people can be capable of awful actions if the right circumstances present themselves. Fascinating and food for thought.

@Bellstar

I have been slightly/very obsessed with russia since I was very young. I have a completely romantic view though-all doctor zhivago.bolshoi ballet,anna karenina etc.

My question is-nick seems to be seduced by russia? is that the effect it had on you? does it still hold you in its thrall?

Since you are ask so nicelybut also since it's trueyes, definitely, though not for the same reasons as Nick. There is no resigning from Russia: it is too fascinating, too alive, too infuriating and addictive a place. I hope some of that comes through in the book, along with all the bleakness.

We're moving to Moscow in the summer, I have (my free) copy of Snowdrops waiting at Mum and Dad's so am following this with great interest...hoping to discover this louche, sauna fuelled way of life......