Cold Victory

Helsinki, 1947. Finland is emerging from a devastating war with the Soviet Union while trying to preserve its independence in the new Cold War. American military attaché Arnie Koski and his Soviet counterpart Mikhail Bobrov, both former soldiers and accomplished skiers, turn a drunken challenge into a secret 500-kilometre race across the winter wilderness. Their wives, Louise and Natalya, form an uneasy friendship in a city where diplomats, intelligence officers and secret police all watch one another.

When Louise’s attempt to use the race to raise money for Finnish war orphans brings it into public view, a private contest becomes a symbolic struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union. The consequences are radically unequal: Arnie risks his career, while Mikhail and Natalya may pay with imprisonment or death if he humiliates Stalin’s regime. Cold Victory combines wilderness suspense with the moral pressures of diplomacy, propaganda and loyalty at the beginning of the Cold War.