- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (5 Sep 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140248811
- ISBN-13: 978-0140248814
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 232,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A Spell of Winter
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
A marvellous novel about forbidden passions (Daily Mail )
An intensely gripping book...written so seductively that some passages sing out from the page, like music for the eyes (Sunday Times )
A hugely involving story which often stops you in your tracks with the beauty of its writing (Observer )
An electrifying and original talent, a writer whose style is characterized by a lyrical, dreamy intensity (Guardian ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
An intensely gripping book...written so seductively that some passages sing out from the page, like music for the eyes (Sunday Times )
A hugely involving story which often stops you in your tracks with the beauty of its writing (Observer )
An electrifying and original talent, a writer whose style is characterized by a lyrical, dreamy intensity (Guardian ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Product Description
This is a novel set just before, during and after World War I. It is the story of a brother and sister whose mother deserts them and whose father goes mad. Incarcerated in an enormous house in the country, their intense emotional relationship becomes a sexual one.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
It is winter in the house. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
It is winter in the house. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A haunting evocation of young souls left to develop alone in a large house full of emotional and financial disintegration. A brother and sister's isolation and loneliness lends their love for each other a new and dangerous bent. Without guidance or boundaries they struggle with the moral and physical implications before one (perhaps) finds redemption and hope.
This novel confronts parental abandonment, mental illness, incest, love and the tragedy of war with the lightest and most effective touch. The natural world and a strongly developed host of supporting characters provide a strong framework for a deeply personal tale.
At times the insights into a young girl's soul (it is written in the first person)seem almost pornographic in their intimacy but they render this work compelling.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a dark, disturbing novel, but strangely haunting. I read it when it was first published, and re-read it more recently. It is my favourite Helen Dunmore, and certainly, in my opinion, her most poetic, the language sometimes so striking that I re-read whole chunks, savouring the unexpected use of words, descriptions that make me gasp with admiration. Phrases such as, 'Her voice poured like treacle over the polished floor,' and, 'The corridor seemed to have swallowed up our voices too,' are breathtaking, but it is the overall impression of the coldness of winter, Catherine's season, that permeates the whole story. 'This morning the ice on my basin of water is so thick I can not break it. The windows stare back at me, blind with frost.'
Helen Dunmore evokes all the senses to the full, so much so that you almost feel the scratchy roughness of Rob's jacket against your skin, and suffer the claustrophobic intensity of Miss Gallagher's interest in Catherine, the young narrator. You instinctively dislike Miss Gallagher, an impression underlined by the writing: 'Her bicycle was by the front steps. Upright, ugly and insistent.' And, 'The coat flopped around her, long and lean as a washed-out banana.'
Kate, the Irish maid, is the one warm gleam in the children's otherwise wintry lives, but apart from Kate they have only each other. The book, set around the first world war, is an exploration of their relationship and its development as they grow up. The story might have its darker aspects but I loved it. I would urge anyone interested in the beauty of the English language to read it and savour every word.
Helen Dunmore evokes all the senses to the full, so much so that you almost feel the scratchy roughness of Rob's jacket against your skin, and suffer the claustrophobic intensity of Miss Gallagher's interest in Catherine, the young narrator. You instinctively dislike Miss Gallagher, an impression underlined by the writing: 'Her bicycle was by the front steps. Upright, ugly and insistent.' And, 'The coat flopped around her, long and lean as a washed-out banana.'
Kate, the Irish maid, is the one warm gleam in the children's otherwise wintry lives, but apart from Kate they have only each other. The book, set around the first world war, is an exploration of their relationship and its development as they grow up. The story might have its darker aspects but I loved it. I would urge anyone interested in the beauty of the English language to read it and savour every word.
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The is a well contructed love story told in a graceful and captivating style. The author has been quite brave, yet obviously careful, in her portrayal of an intense sibling relationship turned too far inward to escape the youthful urges of sexuality. The individual's sense of seclusion during harsh and powerful winters is expertly conveyed. However, if your sense of morality is easily threatened, read something else; because, this is a complicated work that teases out taboos in a way in which the reader will never forget.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Beautifully written
Well I have to hand it to Dunmore; she is not an author who will shy away from difficult or disturbing subjects. Read more
Published 6 months ago by J. Willis
Beautifully written
I love Helen Dunmore's writing, and I loved this book. I read it about nine months ago and the story hasn't left me....that's surely the sign of a successful novel. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Gerry C
A Spellbinding Read
An arresting, sometimes disturbing and always beautifully-written tale of a brother and sister who, abandoned by their mother, and with a mentally-ill father, are left to the care... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Kate Hopkins
A spell of Winter - Helen Dunmore
If you are looking for a well written story, this book is for you. It is a consuming tale of emotional deprivation with some frightening consequences in a time just before the... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mrs. Jill Brownlow
Don't bother
This is the first book I read of Helen Dunmore. I don't agree with the raving reviews at all. I find her style overly descriptive, there was hardly any dialogue and it was... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Vampyra
Superb writing, unlikely story
Brother and sister fall in love and take things a bit too far. I'm not convinced it would happen, even under the unusual circumstances found in this novel. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Phil O'Sofa
A compelling tale of dangerous emotions
Helen Dunmore enjoys an almost subliminal skill in crafting a story that truly delivers heavyweight punches wrapped in a velvet glove and which, you suddenly become aware has... Read more
Published on 17 Nov 2008 by Mick Read
Well written and absorbing
This is a well balanced, interesting novel which is lyrically written and even quite gripping. Characters are well drawn and complex, and the plot held my attention from the... Read more
Published on 12 July 2008 by BookWorm
Beautiful and haunting...
This author's novels win prizes for good reason. There's not a part of this novel that appears out of place. Read more
Published on 11 Jan 2007 by S. Barnes
Haunting and intense
This is possibly Dunmore's saddest book. Of course, none of her books are bursting with happiness, but they usually have flashes of joy. Here, there is almost no joy. Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2005 by Star_Sea
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