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Winter: The Story of a Season
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86/99
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34/99
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About This Book
In this radiant work of creative nonfiction, internationally beloved novelist Val McDermid delivers a dazzling ode to a lost world, ruminating on a single winter in her life as she journeys into the heart of the season's ever-evolving community-based traditions Val McDermid has always had a soft spot for the bitter clarity of a crisp cold day, the crunch of frost on fallen leaves, and the chance to be enveloped in big jumpers and thick socks. In Winter, McDermid takes us on an adventure through the season, from the frosty streets of Edinburgh to the windblown Scottish coast, from Bonfire Night and Christmas to Burns Night and Up Helly Aa. Recalling in parallel memories from her own childhood—of skating over frozen lakes and carving a "neep" (rutabaga) for Halloween to being taken to see her first real Christmas tree in the town square—McDermid offers a wise and enchanting meditation on winter and its ever-changing, sometimes ephemeral, traditions. A hygge-filled journey through winter nights, McDermid reminds us that it is a time of rest, retreat and creativity, for scribbling in notebooks and settling in beside the fire. A treat for the hunkering-down, post-holiday reading season, Winter is a charming and cozy celebration of the year's idle months from one of Scotland's best-loved writers.
Reviews
"Spiced with local dialect."
"The perfect read for all lovers of nature tales and things Caledonian and for McDermid's fans, who will appreciate the insights into her creative process and the environment within which her brilliant novels are often set."
"It is both refreshing and rewarding to see Val McDermid step away from her masterful thrillers to pen a collection of essays ..."
"Supple prose, engaging regional descriptions, and thought-provoking observations, tinged with sparkling humor."
"An odd, unexpected and quite lovely book from McDermid ..."
"Readers of McDermid's fiction may miss the blood and anger of crime."
"Some memories and observations shade into the banal ..."
"Though the book's scope is modest, and there's little in the way of insight about her fiction-writing process, McDermid proves an amiable narrator with an endearing fondness for the year's dreariest months."
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