❄️ Our Winter Recommendations ❄️

The Wood at Midwinter

While the ghostliness of winter isn't always sinister, there is a sense of strangeness and wariness in a world defined by dark nights and pale shapes. Susanna Clarke draws on this strange allure of winter with this fairytale: a young woman, who takes solace in nature and animals, finds herself in a snowy forest, and discovers something that leaves her forever changed. Anything that Clarke writes is haunting, classical, and perceptive, and her afterword to this short story adds even more depth and beauty, and the sense that solitude and loneliness aren't always the same thing.

Katya

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Published: 24th Oct '24

Format: Hardback

Price: £9.99

Orlando (Vintage Classics Woolf Series)

In Orlando, a young 16th-century nobleman clings to a secret dream of being a writer as he watches the centuries pass - mysteriously barely aging, changing genders, and enduring the highs and lows of infatuation and love. When I think of Orlando, I always thinks of the scenes on the frozen Thames during the Great Frost of the 1600s, which are full of beautiful sinister winter magic.

Amos

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Published: 6th Oct '16

Format: Paperback

Price: £8.99

The Wolf Border

This novel by Sarah Hall is about wildness in humans and animals alike. Set against the backdrop of Scottish Independence, a woman is brought back home from Idaho to the Lake District and takes on the task of reintroducing wolves to England. It spans seasons and changes, both politically and personally. Hall's language is sensuous and untamed, which emphasise the wildness throughout the novel. I love this book so much, and I press it into as many people's hands as I can!

Jenna

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Published: 3rd Mar '16

Format: Paperback

Price: £9.99

The Left Hand of Darkness

After wanting to read some Ursula Le Guin for frankly too long a time, I ended up getting lost in The Left Hand of Darkness for a day. It’s a classic for a reason, a science fiction novel that explores gender, war, loyalty and love through reimagination and pushing the boundaries of the time in which it was written.

Molly

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Published: 20th Sep '18

Format: Paperback

Price: £9.99

Holy Winter 20/21

Marc

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Published: 21st Mar '24

Format: Paperback

Price: £12.00

This House of Grief

In her recounting of the trial of a father accused of murdering his children, Garner's execution of a true crime novel expertly bends the confines of genre. Dark and immersive, the intricacies of the case are depicited in a way that reads like literary fiction, and Garner's storytelling is sure to draw you in on cold, wintry nights. This House of Grief deals with the messiest aspects of marriage, parenthood, and the legal system, all the while questioning the ethics of investigative journalism. A heavy one, but truly worthwhile.

The Team

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Published: 14th Mar '24

Format: Paperback

Price: £9.99

In Ascension

MacInnes explores the (in)finite possibilities of the deepest oceans and the ideas we have of farthest-flung space. The thrilling sensation of the grandeur of our planet — and the unknown worlds beyond — chimes throughout. When better to read a mind-expanding book than in the depths of the coldest season?

Euan

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Published: 1st Feb '24

Format: Paperback

Price: £9.99

Open City

Cole's first novel, set during the narrator's winter break in New York and Brussels, is beautifully evocative, measured and layered. It explores politics, art, racism, religion and much more, as the narrator aimlessly walks around the city, thinking about current events and the direction that his life has taken. It's a slow, complex novel to read during the cold, short days.

Alice

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Published: 2nd Feb '12

Format: Paperback

Price: £9.99