Wintering
The power of rest and retreat in difficult times
A The Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller
& BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week
Nominated for Porchlight’s Prize for Best Personal Development & Human Behaviour Book
Nominated for the Wainwright Prize 2020 for UK nature writing
In Wintering, Katherine May recounts her own year-long journey through winter, sparked by a sudden illness in her family that plunged her into a time of uncertainty and seclusion. When life felt at is most frozen, she managed to find strength and inspiration from the incredible wintering experiences of others as well as from the remarkable transformations that nature makes to survive the cold.
This beautiful, perspective-shifting memoir teaches us to draw from the healing powers of the natural world and to embrace the winters of our own lives.
'Wintering is every bit as beautiful and healing as the season itself ... this is truly a beautiful book'
Elizabeth Gilbert
'Absolutely beautiful'
Cheryl Strayed
‘A book for the soul’
Caitlin Moran
This beautiful—and yes, poetic—book has provided a shelter from the storms of the year.’
Maggie Smith, poet
‘If therapy is a talking cure, this beautiful book – Wintering – is a reading cure.’
Guardian
More praise for Wintering
‘Lovely...Her writing about the healing powers of the natural world is wonderful... It is comforting to read Wintering in the midst of the pandemic...Wintering does us the great service of reminding us that we are not alone in feeling undone’.
New York Times
'Katherine May brings a poet’s eye and unexpected comedy to this enthralling celebration of our fallow season … this beautiful book is a reading cure'
Observer
‘Katherine May felt that her world was turning cold as depression dragged her under and anxiety gnawed away at her sense of wellbeing. Over the course of a careful, mindful year, she looked to nature to see what lessons she could learn, taking her cue from the hibernating dormouse, the song of the robin and the forethought of honey bees. Wintering is an elegant investigation into the consolations of nature and shows how it can be wonderfully restorative even on the bleakest of days.’
Sunday Express