Often these days I get annoyed with books that are just a little too "pat" but this was so refreshing and lovely to read that I totally give it a pass.
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick
A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.
It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming…
This was entirely unlike anything I've ever read, and I very much mean that as a compliment. It's a slippery book - you think you know the genre and then it changes, the perspective slips in and out of characters' heads on the same page, then pulls back and is omniscient - you cannot relax. I thought of it falling asleep at night and throughout my day, like it was calling me back to the story.
My only quibble with the shifting perspectives is that I'm a quick, whole-word reader and so having two four-letter character names starting with R (Ruth and Rose) led to confusion at times whose head I was in.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK
'A beautiful, gentle exploration of the dark season of life and the light of spring that eventually follows' RAYNOR WINN
'My favourite book of the last five years' CAITLIN MORAN
Wintering is a poignant and comforting meditation on the fallow periods of life, times when we must retreat to care for and repair ourselves. Katherine May thoughtfully shows us how to come through these times with the wisdom of knowing that, like the seasons, our winters and summers are the ebb and flow of life.
An investigation into the mental health crisis affecting young adults today, and an impassioned argument for creating learning environments characterized both by compassion and challenge.
