A Spell of Winter: WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

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There’s some truly devastating content here, and I had to put the book down a few times to let my emotions catch up with me- usually I’m an embarrassingly cold reader and not particularly affected by fictional details, so this response is a standout; I was completely captivated by these characters and their situation. Raised by an emotionally distant grandfather with particular ideas for their futures and by overly-involved house staff, Cathy and Rob form a close bond- perhaps too close- that causes further emotional fracturing as the two finally reach adulthood and gain a wider sense of the world than they had ever known in the manor. They visit him one day as small children under the care of Miss Gallagher, the meddling governess who adores young Cathy but loathes Rob.

Cathy’s grandfather comes from no one and nothing, and is focused on building a home and legacy for the future generations of his family. This tale of forbidden love, dark secrets, and intimacy that crosses into dangerous territory, never quite delivers high stakes or tension, serious threat or heartbreak. It’s about a young woman, her brother, and a strange life with absent parents and the odd characters who are there in their place. The crumbling house with its wintry Gothic mood is perhaps symptomatic of the era and contrasts interestingly with Mr Bullivant’s stories of his Mediterranean home and his plans to replicate it in England.

Cathy has a suitor, in the form of a rich neighbour; while Rob has the beautiful Livvy - as light as Cathy is dark. The synopsis on the cover (and on Goodreads) offers little in the way of what to expect, and I can see where not knowing what you’re getting into here could lead to less than favorable experiences for some readers, though the right audience will find this a gorgeous (if grim) book. In the late 1980s I began to publish short stories, and these were the beginning of a breakthrough into fiction. A wonderfully written saga of love and decline both in the class system and amongst a pair of siblings.

Catherine – like her mother before her – takes charge of her life in unexpected ways that defy social convention. She excels at wonderful descriptions of the landscape, from brambly, choking hedges with a sense of decay and branchy woodlands, to fresh soil being ploughed.A Spell of Winter is a 1995 literary gothic novel [1] by Helen Dunmore, set in England, around the time of World War I. It’s nice to think that Dunmore got the prize off to a flying start (just check out the people who have received the award since), especially as the author died a couple of years ago.