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Wintering

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

This is wintering. It is the courage to stare down the worst parts of our experience and commit to healing them the best we can.

Wintering is a poignant and comforting meditation on the fallow periods of life, times when we must retreat to care for and repair ourselves. Katherine May thoughtfully shows us how to come through these times with the wisdom of knowing that, like the seasons, our winters and summers are the ebb and flow of life.

A moving personal narrative interwoven with lessons from literature, mythology and the natural world, May's story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas.

Ultimately, Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.

'My favourite book of the last five years' CAITLIN MORAN

'Every bit as beautiful and healing as the season itself' ELIZABETH GILBERT

'Absolutely beautiful' CHERYL STRAYED

© Katherine May 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Critics Review

A beautiful, gentle exploration of the dark season of life and the light of spring that eventually follows
Raynor Winn, bestselling author of The Salt Path
A book for the soul
Caitlin Moran
Katherine May thoughtfully examines the emotional, spiritual, and geographical reality of the cold times, the dark days, and those periods of our lives when things are neither soft nor easy. In so doing, she offers a great and humane service to her readers: she shows us that wintering cannot be avoided, but need not be feared.
Elizabeth Gilbert
Wise, radical and comforting. It's a refreshing, original way of looking at winter, both the season and the winterings that happen in all of our lives. A thought-provoking joy to read.
Lucy Jones, author of Losing Eden
We all experience periods of 'wintering' in our lives and this book shows us how to embrace the uncertainty that can come with it. A beautiful book that can be enjoyed in both winter and summer
Lara Maiklem, author of Mudlarking
An elegant investigation into the consolations of nature and how it can be wonderfully restorative even on the bleakest of days
Sunday Express
[A] sympathetic memoir ... May recounts how she attempted to embrace rather than resist the gloom and chill of winter ... she radiates sincerity and quiet self-knowledge
TLS
In this elegant memoir Katherine May finds beauty and transformation in a difficult period of her life ... an evocative ode to retreat that will appeal to fans of Deborah Levy's The Cost of Living
Publishers Weekly
Wintering is the book equivalent of a perfectly timed hug you didn't know you needed, a warm blanket on a cold day ... it's exactly what the world needs right now
Nora McInerny, host of Terrible, Thanks for Asking
A beautifully written mix of memoir and philosophy ... May offers much needed solace and comfort and a reminder that seasons eventually turn
Booklist

User Reviews

Book 4.8
Narration 4.8
Author Katherine May
Narrator Rebecca Lee
Duration 6 hours and 53 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781473579729
Format Audiobook
Publisher Ebury Publishing
Genre Coping with mental health issues, Memoirs, Nature and the natural world: general interest, Nature therapy, Swimming
Collections Exploring Nature
Availability AU, GB, IE
Rating
4.8 (5 reviews)
Narration
4.8 (5 reviews)

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