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9th out of 18 books
—
54 voters
A Spell of Winter
The inaugural winner of England's prestigious Orange Prize, A Spell of Winter is a compelling turn-of-the-century tale of innocence corrupted by secrecy, and the grace of second chances.Cathy and her brother, Rob, have forged a passionate refuge against the terror of loneliness and family secrets, but their sibling love becomes fraught with danger. As Catherine fights free...more
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published
February 5th 2001
by Grove/Atlantic
(first published 1995)
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A Spell of Winter follows the lives of Cathy and Rob before, during and after World War I. Their mother abandons the family home when they are children and their father dies, leaving them to grow up in a decaying mansion cut off from the rest of the world. Their sense of isolation and dependency on each other mutates into incest. It is testament to the strength of Dunmore’s writing that she delivers truths about love and loss through the vehicle of such ingrained taboo. I didn’t merely believe i...more
“It is winter, my season…. My winter excitement quickened each year with the approach of darkness. I wanted the thermometer to drop lower and lower until not even a trace of mercury showed against the figures. I wanted us to wake to a kingdom of ice where our breath would turn to icicles as it left our lips, and we would walk through tunnels of snow to the outhouses and find birds fallen dead from the air. I willed the snow to lie for ever, and I turned over and buried my head under the pillow s...more
An absent mother and dying father leave Catherine and her brother Rob in pseudo-isolation, encouraging the relationship between them to grow intense and intimate. But when that relationship begins to break down, Catherine alone must reconstruct the fragments of her life. A Spell of Winter is a dream of a book, disjointed, atmospheric, and cold. However effective that atmosphere, it deadens the intensity of relationships and characters's sufferings. The right elements are there: a complex and dis...more
Jun 26, 2012
Lindsay Heller
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
strange-familial-relations,
gothic-nouveau
I read this book awhile ago but it fit so perfectly into my new "Gothic Nouveau" category that I couldn't quite resist writing a little something about it. Also, two weekends ago I attended a Lemonade Party that brought to mind the beautiful description of lemons, packed and foreign and sent from Italy, in this book. This book is often brought up in the same breath as other novels trying very hard to be Brontesque and I think that, with this work, the comparison is valid.
'A Spell of Winter' tak...more
'A Spell of Winter' tak...more
De takken van de bomen tikken tegen de ruiten van het afgelegen landhuis waar Cathy woont, zonder ouders (taboes!), een strenge en koele grootvader, grootgebracht door personeel, en heeft een speciale relatie met haar broer. In dit verhaal heet hij Rob ipv Heathcliff en de Lintons worden vervangen door Livvy en Bullivant, die elk op hun manier voor de beschaving moeten zorgen. Kate is the woman in the attic en is de enige met gezond verstand, de mad man zit weggestopt in het sanatorium. Nog ande...more
Of all Helen Dunmore's books, this is my very favourite. I've read it twice and plan on reading it again because it is a truly beautifully written, haunting tale. The chill which has taken hold of the crumbling previously grand country house and its occupants is almost tangible - you will get cold fingers just holding the book and turning the pages. The house and characters are both occupied by dark secrets and watching the evolution/aftermath which is derived from them makes for compulsive read...more
I'll admit I was disappointed in this novel.
From dust jacket:
"Catherine and her brother Rob, do not know why they have been adandoned by their parents. In the house of their grandfather, "the man from nowhere", they forge a passionate refuge for themselves against the terror of family secrets, and while the world outside moves to the brink of war, their sibling love becomes fraught with dangers. But as Catherine fights free of the past, the spell of winter that has held her in its graps begins t...more
From dust jacket:
"Catherine and her brother Rob, do not know why they have been adandoned by their parents. In the house of their grandfather, "the man from nowhere", they forge a passionate refuge for themselves against the terror of family secrets, and while the world outside moves to the brink of war, their sibling love becomes fraught with dangers. But as Catherine fights free of the past, the spell of winter that has held her in its graps begins t...more
Reason for reading:
There were two Helen Dunmore books I wanted to read this year – The Siege, which I found to be a wonderful read, and this one, the winner of the inaugural Orange Prize in 1996. Very nice of The Book People to have put together a bundle of all ten of her books pre-The Betrayal for eight quid as well. I didn’t know quite what I was letting myself in for…
About the book:
Insanity, incest and a back yard abortion. Well that’s just part of it of course, but it does provide a fairly a...more
There were two Helen Dunmore books I wanted to read this year – The Siege, which I found to be a wonderful read, and this one, the winner of the inaugural Orange Prize in 1996. Very nice of The Book People to have put together a bundle of all ten of her books pre-The Betrayal for eight quid as well. I didn’t know quite what I was letting myself in for…
About the book:
Insanity, incest and a back yard abortion. Well that’s just part of it of course, but it does provide a fairly a...more
Each season has its own feel about it and winter is certainly one of the coldest, bleakest times of the year. When I picked up this book, I assumed that this would be no different. The jacket promised poetic writing and comparisons with the winter months and the sticky humidity of summer, contrasting brother and sister. I didn't really find much seasonal comparison, which I was highly disappointed about, but the writing was certainly beautiful.
The tone of the book was that of depression and desp...more
The tone of the book was that of depression and desp...more
For whatever reason, I have some kind of secret (not to secret now) fascination for literary brother/sister incest stories. Maybe because I have no brothers and thus no frame of reference to get suitably skeeved out by it. But whatever, neither here nor there.
The trouble with this book was that it just plain loses you. Parts of it are good - her writing style is gorgeous in places, tedious in others - and frankly, I just had a hard time keeping up with what the hell was going on. You gotta have...more
The trouble with this book was that it just plain loses you. Parts of it are good - her writing style is gorgeous in places, tedious in others - and frankly, I just had a hard time keeping up with what the hell was going on. You gotta have...more
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Mar 01, 2013
Becky Vowles
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
hist-fiction,
drama
Although not as Gothic as I had expected, I still enjoyed this very much indeed. In the years leading up to the First World War Catherine and her brother Robert are left much to their own devices and a dangerous intimacy grows up between them. I seem to be reading a fair few things which touch on incest recently or maybe Middlesex is just looming large in my mind still, either way this managed to convey they passion and need for secrecy beautifully. The descriptions of winter are lyrical and evo...more
The story itself is actually a bit silly (brother & sister incest, yawn) but she writes, as one might expect, with a poet's sensitivity, and her evocation of atmosphere (esp. seasons) and place is quite beautiful. I find it hard to place the time setting, but in a sense it doesn't matter because the whole thing has a wonderful timeless, dreamy quality. I think the cover quote, referring to "forbidden passions", was misleading - the incest element of the novel isn't really central to the nove...more
2.5 stars The book is beautifully written and very atmospheric. The front cover touted the "sinister" and "tense" tone. That was certainly true. While I found the prose spell binding, the story was less engaging. Many of the "mysteries" in the book were never fully revealed. I suppose that is more realistic, and I often criticize books for wrapping things up too nicely, so my protestations here sound a bit hypocritical even to my ears. I did like how the author communicates the breaking of the s...more
I read Helen Dunmore’s novel With Your Crooked Heart many years ago and I’ve been a fan ever since. Dunmore’s prose is like poetry, every sentence a perfect balance between beauty and truth. Winner of the 1996 Orange Prize, A Spell of Winter is the fourth novel I’ve read by her, and I have also read her collection of short stories, Ice Cream.
A Spell of Winter concerns the lives of Cathy and Rob, siblings who live in a crumbling manor house in England. Their guardian is their maternal grandfather...more
A Spell of Winter concerns the lives of Cathy and Rob, siblings who live in a crumbling manor house in England. Their guardian is their maternal grandfather...more
The author's name seemed really familiar to me until I realised I'd been staring at her children's work for about a year by then, but I hadn't known she'd written books for adults, too.
This book has incest in it, but if your only experience of incest is Virginia Andrews, then you're in for a shock because Helen Dunmore can write circles around her. (Also, it won the Orange Prize in 1996, so someone with literary power obviously thought it was good, too. :D) I cannot stress how amazingly beautifu...more
This book has incest in it, but if your only experience of incest is Virginia Andrews, then you're in for a shock because Helen Dunmore can write circles around her. (Also, it won the Orange Prize in 1996, so someone with literary power obviously thought it was good, too. :D) I cannot stress how amazingly beautifu...more
This book is hard to like, but it's also hard not to like. Set in the years before WWI, it's the story of Catherine and her life as it happens around her. She lives with her grandfather in a big old house with her older brother Rob, her nanny, Kate, and a hated tutor named Miss Gallagher.
Her mother has left the family in the beginning and no reason is really given but you get the feeling she didn't want to be a wife and mother anymore in the cold, dark house. Her father is in a sanatorium at th...more
Her mother has left the family in the beginning and no reason is really given but you get the feeling she didn't want to be a wife and mother anymore in the cold, dark house. Her father is in a sanatorium at th...more
Oct 14, 2010
Maia
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
lit prize lovers
Shelves:
80s-90s,
prizes-orange
Gothic-like tale full of secrets and misunderstandings, about love between a too-close, mutually dependent brother and sister. I was lured by the premise and there's no doubt that Dunmore's writing can be affecting in areas but, overall, the novel was a struggle to finish and there were several passages where I either lost interest entirely or felt the writer was trying too hard to be literary. I afterwards tried two other Dunmore novels--to the same result.
This book is a depressing text of the multi-generational misery of one family. I finished the book in hopes of discovery the answer to the family secrets but found no satisfaction there or anywhere else in this book. But somebody liked this book since it is a "Orange Winner" a prestigious award from England. I found it dreary and the characters worthy of a good slap and a "What the heck are you thinking/doing!"
I was about a quarter of the way through this when I realized I had read it before. But it was so compelling and lyrical that I had to read it again. It is a poetically written - reminiscent of Snow Falling on Cedars in terms of style and a Ruth Rendell or Morag Joss "descent into madness" story in terms of plot, but perhaps with a little more hope thrown in. It is set at the turn of the century, so it has a little bit of a Gothic feel as well. It's the story of a child abandoned by her mother,...more
From the first page, I suspected this was a novel written by a poet. Sure enough, I looked it up and it is. It has the hallmark signs--gorgeous, precise, strikingly visual descriptions, and a lack of truly compelling storytelling. The writing deserves at least four stars, but for me the narrative pull of the story only gets, like, two. So three stars seems fair overall. Amusingly, there's a torrid and super icky brother-sister love affair, AND the girl's name is Cathy. Was Dunmore inspired by Fl...more
This is the second book I’ve read by this author and, as with the first, I couldn’t engage with the writing style, the characters or the story. I completed it because it was on my reading list, but I found it a chore.
I’m obviously not the target audience for this author – the person that put it on my reading list described it as “dark / good writing” and it won a prize.
I’m obviously not the target audience for this author – the person that put it on my reading list described it as “dark / good writing” and it won a prize.
Aug 11, 2010
Fiona
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Fiona by:
The Orange Prize for Fiction
"The crackle of our boots died, and we were no longer an interruption in the wood, but part of it. Ivy stirred by my fingers, where it hung loosely from a dead oak. The trees grew very close here, and they were killing one another as they strained for the light."
This book, the inaugural prize-winning title, and hence the very first book I have opened for my 'Orange Prize for Fiction' Reading Project, is an exquisitely lyrical piece of literature, the use of symbolism is both rich and compelling,...more
Beautifully written account of forbidden love, and a family's secrets and decline. Catherine and Rob are wholly likable and believable, and I found myself rooting for them despite their shortcomings.
This is deservedly Dunmore's most acclaimed work, though personally it lacked the certain intangible something that made Mourning Ruby a perfect novel.
This is deservedly Dunmore's most acclaimed work, though personally it lacked the certain intangible something that made Mourning Ruby a perfect novel.
Helen Dunmore is such an evocative writer: you share in the senses she describes whether sights, sounds, smells or sensations. This is a novel about the secrets of a family told against a background of an England in the early part of the twentieth century as war looms and then passes. It's also a story about loving and needing to be loved.
I'm surprised this won The Orange Prize; it was not particularly original or subtle, and the main character was incredibly passive. The writing was solid, and the general outline of the plot had merit. I suppose my feelings of disappointment and irritation with A Spell of Winter have to do with the fact that this type of psycho-sexual drama has been done to death in the last 20 years and I have read better examples. Also, with the fact that the revelations were telegraphed so clearly from page o...more
For the first few chapters I had no interest in the characters, and found it difficult to work out what was the present and what was the past or future. By the middle of the book, I was caught up in the story of Cathy. It is certainly not a feel-good book - in fact, I found it very depressing. But I think it was well written.
A slightly sinister and unnerving story that is completely gripping from beginning to end. The central characters incestuous relationship is presented in a sympathetic light and the intriguing cast of characters help to sustain the reader's interest.
Helen Dunmore writes beautifully and this book is no exception.
Helen Dunmore writes beautifully and this book is no exception.
I am enjoying this book, though I did find it a bit confusing to start with. It is about a brother and sister who have been abandoned by their mother and their father is ill in a sanatorium. They are living with their grandfather who is a shadowy figure. It is a gripping read, but disturbing too.
May 23, 2012
Shauna
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
ordered-and-recieved,
i-own-a-copy,
2012,
gothic,
historical-fiction,
helen-dunmore,
best-titles
Well. A Spell of Winter is interesting. The relationship between siblings Cathy and Rob is wildly inappropriate. But I don't have a problem reading it, its kind of a staple in gothic novels. It is beautifully written, almost claustrophobic in places. I took a star off because I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the ending. I will read it again, and I'll probably know whether I like it or not then.
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I was born in December 1952, in Yorkshire, the second of four children. My father was the eldest of twelve, and this extended family has no doubt had a strong influence on my life, as have my own children. In a large family you hear a great many stories. You also come to understand very early that stories hold quite different meanings for different listeners, and can be recast from many viewpoints...more
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