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Winter Rose #1
Winter Rose
Sorrow and trouble and bitterness will bound you and yours and the children of yours...
Some said the dying words of Nial Lynn, murdered by his own son, were a wicked curse. To others, it was a winter's tale spun by firelight on cold, dark nights. But when Corbet Lynn came to rebuild his family estate, memories of his grandfather's curse were rekindled by young and old — and rumours filled the heavy air of summer.
In the woods that border Lynn Hall, free-spirited Rois Melior roams wild and barefooted in search of healing herbs. She is as hopelessly unbridled - and unsuited for marriage - as her betrothed sister Laurel is domestic. In Corbet's pale green eyes, Rois senses a desperate longing. In her restless dreams, mixed with the heady warmth of harvest wine, she hears him beckon. And as autumn gold fades, Rois is consumed with Corbet Lynn, obsessed with his secret past - until, across the frozed countryside and in flight from her own imagination, truth and dreams become inseparable...
Some said the dying words of Nial Lynn, murdered by his own son, were a wicked curse. To others, it was a winter's tale spun by firelight on cold, dark nights. But when Corbet Lynn came to rebuild his family estate, memories of his grandfather's curse were rekindled by young and old — and rumours filled the heavy air of summer.
In the woods that border Lynn Hall, free-spirited Rois Melior roams wild and barefooted in search of healing herbs. She is as hopelessly unbridled - and unsuited for marriage - as her betrothed sister Laurel is domestic. In Corbet's pale green eyes, Rois senses a desperate longing. In her restless dreams, mixed with the heady warmth of harvest wine, she hears him beckon. And as autumn gold fades, Rois is consumed with Corbet Lynn, obsessed with his secret past - until, across the frozed countryside and in flight from her own imagination, truth and dreams become inseparable...
262 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1996
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8076 people want to read
About the author
Patricia A. McKillip
94 books2,908 followersPatricia Anne McKillip was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. She wrote predominantly standalone fantasy novels and has been called "one of the most accomplished prose stylists in the fantasy genre". Her work won many awards, including the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 509 reviews
December 5, 2017
Winter Rose is Patricia McKillip's take on the Tam Lin folktale. It veers from the standard legend pretty dramatically.
An attractive young man, Corbet Lynn, moves to the medievalish village of Rois and Laurel Melior, two sisters. Rois (our narrator) likes to wander around outdoors barefoot, heedless of propriety; Laurel is the more proper sister, with a fiance who loves her. Somehow Corbet, who seems to be struggling with some kind of family curse, manages to upend both of the sisters' lives.
Beautifully told with McKillip's usual lyrical, nearly poetic language, but it gets a little strange and hard to follow as events become more obscure, and dreams seem to meld with reality until neither you nor Rois is sure what's what. Faerie has some kind of hold on the Lynn family and doesn't want to let go. Even though I got a little lost there toward the end - it's not clear exactly WHAT is happening (Tatiana's review calls it a "psychedelic trip" and I have to agree it's just about that weird) - I still enjoyed this story enough to read it a couple of times, and may well read it again sometime.
My recommendation: Just sit back and appreciate McKillip's lush and lovely language and don't try to make sense of everything that happens in this story. But if you do make sense of it, let's talk. I've still got some questions. :)
If you want a more straightforward, understandable retelling of Tam Lin, I recommend The Perilous Gard, a wonderful old YA novel. If you want a more adult version, you might like Roses and Rot.
An attractive young man, Corbet Lynn, moves to the medievalish village of Rois and Laurel Melior, two sisters. Rois (our narrator) likes to wander around outdoors barefoot, heedless of propriety; Laurel is the more proper sister, with a fiance who loves her. Somehow Corbet, who seems to be struggling with some kind of family curse, manages to upend both of the sisters' lives.
Beautifully told with McKillip's usual lyrical, nearly poetic language, but it gets a little strange and hard to follow as events become more obscure, and dreams seem to meld with reality until neither you nor Rois is sure what's what. Faerie has some kind of hold on the Lynn family and doesn't want to let go. Even though I got a little lost there toward the end - it's not clear exactly WHAT is happening (Tatiana's review calls it a "psychedelic trip" and I have to agree it's just about that weird) - I still enjoyed this story enough to read it a couple of times, and may well read it again sometime.
My recommendation: Just sit back and appreciate McKillip's lush and lovely language and don't try to make sense of everything that happens in this story. But if you do make sense of it, let's talk. I've still got some questions. :)
If you want a more straightforward, understandable retelling of Tam Lin, I recommend The Perilous Gard, a wonderful old YA novel. If you want a more adult version, you might like Roses and Rot.
December 5, 2019
I thought this was beautifully written (no surprise there, given the author) but sad to say, it is my least favorite by McKillip so far. there was a kind of lifelessness to it, and the repetition of actions by the protagonist Rois became hard to bear. go to the forest and well; go to the brokedown mansion; go to the apothecary; go home. so circular.
and yet the circular actions and even the static lifelessness of the plot, when combined with how intense McKillip gets with her prose and all of the hallucinogenic imagery, made the experience a hypnotic one for me. despite not loving it, I didn't dislike it either. a frustrating but still fascinating book. this is a chamber piece where the chamber is very small and enclosed, but man the gorgeous design of the chamber itself still impresses.
I was feeling lazy, so I just copied (and edited) my comment from the great group Beyond Reality. one of the best groups on Goodreads!
and yet the circular actions and even the static lifelessness of the plot, when combined with how intense McKillip gets with her prose and all of the hallucinogenic imagery, made the experience a hypnotic one for me. despite not loving it, I didn't dislike it either. a frustrating but still fascinating book. this is a chamber piece where the chamber is very small and enclosed, but man the gorgeous design of the chamber itself still impresses.
I was feeling lazy, so I just copied (and edited) my comment from the great group Beyond Reality. one of the best groups on Goodreads!
January 2, 2019
This was my first McKillip book, and I'm a little disappointed actually. From the first pages, I thought it was going to be a combination of beautiful writing, fantasy with a solid plot and well developed characters. I'm afraid it only delivered the beautiful writing, and couldn't just hook me to the rest of the story.
I can imagine some people will love it more than others. It's a very slow going book, with lots of descriptions, atmosphere, etc. But, even so, there should have been a bit more balance for a proper going plot or better set up for fantastical elements.
It's a Tam Lin re-imagining, but it lacked the energy for me massively. I couldn't root for any of the characters, and in the end couldn't care for the rest of it.
I'd love to try McKillip again if you know her books that are better with plot, please do recommend :)
I can imagine some people will love it more than others. It's a very slow going book, with lots of descriptions, atmosphere, etc. But, even so, there should have been a bit more balance for a proper going plot or better set up for fantastical elements.
It's a Tam Lin re-imagining, but it lacked the energy for me massively. I couldn't root for any of the characters, and in the end couldn't care for the rest of it.
I'd love to try McKillip again if you know her books that are better with plot, please do recommend :)
June 23, 2010
I love Patricia McKillip's writing. That bald statement doesn't do the depth of my feeling justice, but there it lies. She turns the simplest statement into poetry, creating exquisite images that shimmer before the mind's eye long after the book has been closed; she imbues the whole world with magic, drawing forth colors unimaginable from the stark black text on a white page.
It is possible that Winter Rose is her best book. Where normally her prose creates just the slightest distance, separating the reader from the actions described, the prose in Winter Rose is immediate, urgent, driving. Where normally her characters are just a little bit of a cipher, subject to motivations just the tiniest bit outside human ken, here her characters are warmly, achingly human. And where normally I finish one of her novels awed and melancholy and delighted, I finished Winter Rose wanting to scream.
She does all this by a simple change in perspective.
Normally, McKillip writes in a tight third-person perspective, shifting between characters at the chapter breaks. It is this that creates just the little bit of distance, this that keeps her characters ciphers. It gives her scope, for she often writes novels where the characters start spread across the map and only come together during the climax; but it does lessen the emotional punch. In Winter Rose, however, she is concerned with only one character: Rois Melior, the wild child of wood and water and bramble. Given that narrowing of focus, McKillip wisely delivers an arrestingly beautiful first-person perspective, gifting Rois with all of McKillip's own skill at seeing showers of gold in a summer sunbeam and the Wild Hunt coursing across a windblown sky. From the very first page that "I" makes Rois as ethereally flawless as McKillip's prose.
And that was why I wanted to scream at the conclusion of her tale. From the very first page I took Rois to my heart and I did not want to let her go -- and the ending McKillip weaves for her, enigmatic and difficult as always, cut me to the bone. It is, by fairy tale standards, a happy ending; but she deserved so much more.
Oh, you wanted to know about the plot? Well, it's a mixture of The Snow Queen and Tam Lin, and either I've gotten better at deciphering McKillip's climaxes or this is a remarkably coherent one. It is also about the stain that child abuse spreads through a family, and that element is handled so deftly that it is far more heartbreaking than anything more preachy could be.
It is possible that Winter Rose is her best book. Where normally her prose creates just the slightest distance, separating the reader from the actions described, the prose in Winter Rose is immediate, urgent, driving. Where normally her characters are just a little bit of a cipher, subject to motivations just the tiniest bit outside human ken, here her characters are warmly, achingly human. And where normally I finish one of her novels awed and melancholy and delighted, I finished Winter Rose wanting to scream.
She does all this by a simple change in perspective.
Normally, McKillip writes in a tight third-person perspective, shifting between characters at the chapter breaks. It is this that creates just the little bit of distance, this that keeps her characters ciphers. It gives her scope, for she often writes novels where the characters start spread across the map and only come together during the climax; but it does lessen the emotional punch. In Winter Rose, however, she is concerned with only one character: Rois Melior, the wild child of wood and water and bramble. Given that narrowing of focus, McKillip wisely delivers an arrestingly beautiful first-person perspective, gifting Rois with all of McKillip's own skill at seeing showers of gold in a summer sunbeam and the Wild Hunt coursing across a windblown sky. From the very first page that "I" makes Rois as ethereally flawless as McKillip's prose.
And that was why I wanted to scream at the conclusion of her tale. From the very first page I took Rois to my heart and I did not want to let her go -- and the ending McKillip weaves for her, enigmatic and difficult as always, cut me to the bone. It is, by fairy tale standards, a happy ending; but she deserved so much more.
Oh, you wanted to know about the plot? Well, it's a mixture of The Snow Queen and Tam Lin, and either I've gotten better at deciphering McKillip's climaxes or this is a remarkably coherent one. It is also about the stain that child abuse spreads through a family, and that element is handled so deftly that it is far more heartbreaking than anything more preachy could be.
February 14, 2011
3 stars solely for the quality of McKillip's writing - evocative, lyrical, full of beautiful imagery. Sort of a combination of Marillier's style, which is vivid, always filled with otherworldly and draws inspiration from folklore, and McKinley's - which is heavy on psychedelic "trips" her heroines have to go through to evolve and grow.
Winter Rose is an interesting enough Tam Lin re-imagining, too bad so much of the story is dedicated to the main character's running in the woods or in snow or having hallucinations. Plus I never felt any connection with the characters - they are so distant and dull, they lack passion.
Don't think McKillip is my cup of tea.
Winter Rose is an interesting enough Tam Lin re-imagining, too bad so much of the story is dedicated to the main character's running in the woods or in snow or having hallucinations. Plus I never felt any connection with the characters - they are so distant and dull, they lack passion.
Don't think McKillip is my cup of tea.
November 2, 2019
There is much to admire in this book: some beautifully lyrical, poetic writing, especially of dreams and visions and mysterious moments of two worlds intermingling. But ultimately it is undermined by a climax that remains too elusive and abstract and muddy (featuring dialogue that suddenly becomes jarringly melodramatic) and a general feeling throughout that the poetic prose keeps the emotional heart of the story at arms’ length.
I am still interested in reading more of Patrica A. McKillip’s work (this was the first time I’d read anything by her), since she is clearly gifted, and has a rich imagination and the ability to paint some beautiful pictures with her words.
I am still interested in reading more of Patrica A. McKillip’s work (this was the first time I’d read anything by her), since she is clearly gifted, and has a rich imagination and the ability to paint some beautiful pictures with her words.
December 13, 2024
I’m rapidly running out of Patricia McKillip books to read so I’ve been carefully rationing them out. I decided it’d been long enough since my last read, so I’m using this for my Published in the 90’s bingo square. As ever: exquisite, numinous, achingly beautiful writing and a story of strange, transformative magic.
One of the things I love about McKillip’s books is that they are utterly ethereal while feeling very grounded in humanness at the same time. Winter Rose’s story makes my heart hurt because of the gentleness and wisdom and light touch with which it explores generational trauma. A silent boy sits beside a neighbor’s fire, watching her normal, happy children play. He doesn’t know how to join himself and is soon taken back to his own cruel home; the boy becomes a father himself and hides away from the world he never fit into, trying to love his son as much as he knows how to and then dying to protect him.
Corbet strives painfully to break his family’s patterns and understand the human world, while the connection between him and Rois feels very special and real despite how delicate and unspoken much of it is. His vulnerability is beautiful, as is her fierce determination to understand and save him. I don’t recall feeling strongly about most of McKillip’s other romances, but the bond here is lovely. I think it’s strengthened by Rois’s first-person perspective, especially her wry observations, sense of strangeness/alienation, and passion for the natural world.
Perhaps my only quibble is that the plot involves many incidents of Rois running out into the forest, passing out, and then stumbling home later. Other than that, I’m only disappointed that I have one less book to read by one of my favorite authors. I wish she was better known because she excels at so many things I see more acclaimed authors do much less successfully (imo) - she really has set my expectations for gorgeous prose and stories that are dreamy little gems reminiscent of the best fairy tales.
One of the things I love about McKillip’s books is that they are utterly ethereal while feeling very grounded in humanness at the same time. Winter Rose’s story makes my heart hurt because of the gentleness and wisdom and light touch with which it explores generational trauma. A silent boy sits beside a neighbor’s fire, watching her normal, happy children play. He doesn’t know how to join himself and is soon taken back to his own cruel home; the boy becomes a father himself and hides away from the world he never fit into, trying to love his son as much as he knows how to and then dying to protect him.
Corbet strives painfully to break his family’s patterns and understand the human world, while the connection between him and Rois feels very special and real despite how delicate and unspoken much of it is. His vulnerability is beautiful, as is her fierce determination to understand and save him. I don’t recall feeling strongly about most of McKillip’s other romances, but the bond here is lovely. I think it’s strengthened by Rois’s first-person perspective, especially her wry observations, sense of strangeness/alienation, and passion for the natural world.
Perhaps my only quibble is that the plot involves many incidents of Rois running out into the forest, passing out, and then stumbling home later. Other than that, I’m only disappointed that I have one less book to read by one of my favorite authors. I wish she was better known because she excels at so many things I see more acclaimed authors do much less successfully (imo) - she really has set my expectations for gorgeous prose and stories that are dreamy little gems reminiscent of the best fairy tales.
April 3, 2016
I’ve actually reviewed this here before, and in fact read it twice before. I wanted to give it another go, because I’ve been reading a couple of other Tam Lin based stories (The Perilous Gard; An Earthly Knight; just starting Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin) and because I want to read the sequel to this, Solstice Wood. And because I’m stubborn as heck and I didn’t ‘get it’, and I don’t like that feeling.
Well, I still didn’t really ‘get’ it, though I was more content to go with the dreamlike logic and just enjoy the lyrical writing and the scent-touch-taste of the way McKillip writes. It still reminds me of ‘Goblin Market’ as much as ‘Tam Lin’, given the inclusion of the character of Laurel, who wastes away waiting for Tam Lin. There’s so much to love in this book — the way Perrin is portrayed, solid and real and true; Laurel and Rois’ love for each other and their father, and his for them; the beautiful, beautiful writing.
But I still don’t get it. I feel like I should be rating it more highly, liking it better, and obviously there’s something that keeps me trying to come back to it. But nope. Still not the right time, perhaps?
Originally posted here.
Well, I still didn’t really ‘get’ it, though I was more content to go with the dreamlike logic and just enjoy the lyrical writing and the scent-touch-taste of the way McKillip writes. It still reminds me of ‘Goblin Market’ as much as ‘Tam Lin’, given the inclusion of the character of Laurel, who wastes away waiting for Tam Lin. There’s so much to love in this book — the way Perrin is portrayed, solid and real and true; Laurel and Rois’ love for each other and their father, and his for them; the beautiful, beautiful writing.
But I still don’t get it. I feel like I should be rating it more highly, liking it better, and obviously there’s something that keeps me trying to come back to it. But nope. Still not the right time, perhaps?
Originally posted here.
April 4, 2019
Patricia McKillip is one of my absolute favorite authors. I love her dreamy prose and have reread multiple books of hers. One complaint some people had about this book is that it’s hard to tell when things are a dream and when they are real. I agree with that and had a few moments I needed to go back and reread passages to figure out where things were going. I enjoyed the character of Rois who was quirky and unique, and such a contrast to her sister Laurel who was all things beautiful and good. The folk tale Tam Lin is one of my favorites, and I liked McKillip’s spin on it.
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June 18, 2024Zimska ruža je vrlo solidan fentezi ljubić o dve veoma različite sestre i tajanstvenom strancu koji ulazi u njihove živote, a u korenu krije još jednu varijaciju balade Tam Lin. Da u njemu uživam više nego što ovog puta jesam sprečile su me dve stvari:
1. baš nedavno sam čitala drugi roman iste autorke koji je, da se ne lažemo, mnogo ambiciozniji i mnogo uspeliji
2. s modernim verzijama Tam Lina najpre sam se susrela kod Alana Garnera (Red Shift je za mene jedna od onih knjiga koje vam menjaju pogled na svet, ljude, funkciju književnosti; ubola sam ga u pravih pet sekundi svog života i zauvek ću biti zahvalna zbog toga*) i Dajane Vin Džouns (Fire and Hemlock je njena najbolja knjiga i remek-delo i tu nema diskusije) i u poređenju s njima... eh, ovo je kompetentno ali ni blizu.
*nikad nikome nisam uspela da ga naturim a da se potrefi da bude u tih istih pet sekundi ali i dalje se nadam
1. baš nedavno sam čitala drugi roman iste autorke koji je, da se ne lažemo, mnogo ambiciozniji i mnogo uspeliji
2. s modernim verzijama Tam Lina najpre sam se susrela kod Alana Garnera (Red Shift je za mene jedna od onih knjiga koje vam menjaju pogled na svet, ljude, funkciju književnosti; ubola sam ga u pravih pet sekundi svog života i zauvek ću biti zahvalna zbog toga*) i Dajane Vin Džouns (Fire and Hemlock je njena najbolja knjiga i remek-delo i tu nema diskusije) i u poređenju s njima... eh, ovo je kompetentno ali ni blizu.
*nikad nikome nisam uspela da ga naturim a da se potrefi da bude u tih istih pet sekundi ali i dalje se nadam
December 29, 2024
3 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I looked out over the darkening wood, and wished I were something wild that prowled at night. I would run through moonlight until I reached the hall, where the wild roses grew among the tame in the old rose garden. And then, from some secret place, I would see what he became when moonlight touched him.
Winter Rose is loosely inspired by the ballad of Tamlin and the Snow Queen tale. Patricia's lyrical writing is breathtaking and I desperately wanted to love this as it had a promising beginning but...
The story itself felt like it was running around in circles with not much happening and I could not tell whether some events happened in the real world or in a dreamscape.
Rois was an interesting character with a free spirit drawn to the mysterious woods and a ruined hall haunted by a winter curse.
The romance is pretty minimal as well.
On the outside it seems to be a spellbinding story, but on the inside and to my disappointment—it's quite hollow.
I looked out over the darkening wood, and wished I were something wild that prowled at night. I would run through moonlight until I reached the hall, where the wild roses grew among the tame in the old rose garden. And then, from some secret place, I would see what he became when moonlight touched him.
Winter Rose is loosely inspired by the ballad of Tamlin and the Snow Queen tale. Patricia's lyrical writing is breathtaking and I desperately wanted to love this as it had a promising beginning but...
The story itself felt like it was running around in circles with not much happening and I could not tell whether some events happened in the real world or in a dreamscape.
Rois was an interesting character with a free spirit drawn to the mysterious woods and a ruined hall haunted by a winter curse.
The romance is pretty minimal as well.
On the outside it seems to be a spellbinding story, but on the inside and to my disappointment—it's quite hollow.
January 14, 2015
When I first read this, it was the first book I’d read by McKillip and I really didn’t appreciate it. I thought the words were lovely, but the substance was all over the place; everything had dream logic, and sometimes I couldn’t hold onto that logic and follow it through — or I’d come to totally wrong conclusions that I don’t think McKillip intended at all. But I expected this time to be different: I’ve come to really love McKillip’s work, in general, and to enjoy and follow the lyricism, the imagery, the logic of it that’s more to do with magic than orderly lines of reasoning. The quality that makes me feel like this is real magic, more so than anything Gandalf could ever do.
And yet. Nope. This book still makes very little sense to me. It’s ‘The Snow Queen’ and ‘Goblin Market’ and Tam Lin, and I don’t know if it intends to be all three or if I’m just grasping at straws. It’s got the magic and mystery of McKillip’s other work and yet it never quite comes together for me in the same way. It’s beautifully written, and yet it never coalesces quite into sense for me.
I think I understood it better than I did the first time, and at least I went into it prepared to take my enjoyment from the beautiful words and the feeling of magic, but I find myself blinking when reading reviews where people think this is the most warm and human of McKillip’s novels, the least mythical and distanced. There are parts of it like that — Perrin’s love for Laurel, through everything; Rois and Laurel’s father’s uncomprehending love for his daughters… But mostly it was so lyrical that I couldn’t touch it.
I make it sound like I really disliked it, I think, but it’s more that I’m just not on the right wavelength. Clearly some people are, and I’m close enough that I can appreciate some of the beauty. I think there’s a really emotionally absorbing, satisfying story in there for some people, judging from reviews. Just… not for me! I was really disappointed that I still don’t ‘get’ it, despite my new appreciation of McKillip’s other work.
And yet. Nope. This book still makes very little sense to me. It’s ‘The Snow Queen’ and ‘Goblin Market’ and Tam Lin, and I don’t know if it intends to be all three or if I’m just grasping at straws. It’s got the magic and mystery of McKillip’s other work and yet it never quite comes together for me in the same way. It’s beautifully written, and yet it never coalesces quite into sense for me.
I think I understood it better than I did the first time, and at least I went into it prepared to take my enjoyment from the beautiful words and the feeling of magic, but I find myself blinking when reading reviews where people think this is the most warm and human of McKillip’s novels, the least mythical and distanced. There are parts of it like that — Perrin’s love for Laurel, through everything; Rois and Laurel’s father’s uncomprehending love for his daughters… But mostly it was so lyrical that I couldn’t touch it.
I make it sound like I really disliked it, I think, but it’s more that I’m just not on the right wavelength. Clearly some people are, and I’m close enough that I can appreciate some of the beauty. I think there’s a really emotionally absorbing, satisfying story in there for some people, judging from reviews. Just… not for me! I was really disappointed that I still don’t ‘get’ it, despite my new appreciation of McKillip’s other work.
March 10, 2023
I love the evocative writing in this novel where dream and reality blend and are impossible to tell apart. This part was great, as was the hidden magic underneath the surface.
What I liked less was way the story dragged out. It's pretty clear from early on that this is going to be a type of Tam Lin retelling. The heroine, Rois wanders out in the night a few too many times looking for Corbert, the mysterious and obviously enchanted/cursed neighbor. It got to be IMO too repetitive. It would have been better to have a few less night wanderings.
Edited to add That being said, my overall impression is favourable. This book lead me to read other books by Patricia A. McKillip.
What I liked less was way the story dragged out. It's pretty clear from early on that this is going to be a type of Tam Lin retelling. The heroine, Rois wanders out in the night a few too many times looking for Corbert, the mysterious and obviously enchanted/cursed neighbor. It got to be IMO too repetitive. It would have been better to have a few less night wanderings.
Edited to add That being said, my overall impression is favourable. This book lead me to read other books by Patricia A. McKillip.
July 8, 2015
Ms. McKillip is one of my favorite authors. Her prose is simply beautiful and magical. Loved this broken fairy tale!
March 3, 2013
McKillip is one of my favorite authors: she has an unrivalled ability to take a seemingly simple story and invest it with a beauty of language and depth of meaning seen in few books. Her fairytales are for adults, as well as younger people (as such stories were originally meant to be); she stays true to the heart and soul of this most enduring and significant form of tale-telling.
This book is based on the legend of Tam Lin, with a bit of Andersen’s Snow Queen thrown into the mix –
Set in a timeless rural village, two sisters: wild and irresponsible Rois and the stable, engaged Laurel, are both fascinated by a young man recently arrived in town. Corbet is heir to the tumbledown hall outside of the village, but he is surrounded by rumors of a curse: his father is said to have murdered his grandfather and mysteriously fled town. Now the curse is suspected to have settled on Corbet… is he doomed to repeat the past? What really did happen, all those years ago?
Rois is determined to find out the truth about Corbet – but in doing so she may find more than she bargained for. The woods that Rois has always loved seems filled with some cruel and bitter otherworldly presence, as secrets and obsession threaten to lead both sisters on a path to destruction.
The story is simply told, and not long, but it has an emotional truthfulness that is not easy to come by. It meshes this world with that of faerie (?) in a masterful - and believable - way.
This book is based on the legend of Tam Lin, with a bit of Andersen’s Snow Queen thrown into the mix –
Set in a timeless rural village, two sisters: wild and irresponsible Rois and the stable, engaged Laurel, are both fascinated by a young man recently arrived in town. Corbet is heir to the tumbledown hall outside of the village, but he is surrounded by rumors of a curse: his father is said to have murdered his grandfather and mysteriously fled town. Now the curse is suspected to have settled on Corbet… is he doomed to repeat the past? What really did happen, all those years ago?
Rois is determined to find out the truth about Corbet – but in doing so she may find more than she bargained for. The woods that Rois has always loved seems filled with some cruel and bitter otherworldly presence, as secrets and obsession threaten to lead both sisters on a path to destruction.
The story is simply told, and not long, but it has an emotional truthfulness that is not easy to come by. It meshes this world with that of faerie (?) in a masterful - and believable - way.
March 22, 2011
Winter Rose is written in a very lyrical style, but on reflection, not much really seems to happen. I quite enjoyed the style, but in the end, I can't really think of much substance to it. It was a bit Goblin Market-esque, I suppose, with the two sisters, and one pining away, and the other doing all she could to make things better... And of course, there was the story of Tam Lin. But I got a bit confused with who was related to who and how -- at one point I thought Corbet's father was also Rois' father, somehow...
It was also a bit of a slow read, despite being so short -- there wasn't much to push one on with the plot, and so much of it was dream sequences, or the same worrying, over and over, about Laurel wasting away as their mother did. And the end was a bit indeterminate.
So all in all, I'm not really sure what to think of it, even after several hours of pottering around doing other things. I definitely wasn't wildly in love, but there were parts of it I loved.
It was also a bit of a slow read, despite being so short -- there wasn't much to push one on with the plot, and so much of it was dream sequences, or the same worrying, over and over, about Laurel wasting away as their mother did. And the end was a bit indeterminate.
So all in all, I'm not really sure what to think of it, even after several hours of pottering around doing other things. I definitely wasn't wildly in love, but there were parts of it I loved.
November 4, 2023
Beautiful prose; just lovely language. Perfect for fairy tale aficionados. Definitely a fantasy, filled with dreams, and mysterious woods and people.
June 30, 2009
This is a beautifully written, near-hallucinatory little novel, almost breathless in its telling of the story of a young man, Corbet Lynn, who returns to the ruins of his ancestral home, Lynn Hall, and starts to rebuild. There's a village rumor of a family curse, a dying man's words no one can quite remember the same way, as if the words and the memories shift with each retelling. One winter Corbet's grandfather was murdered by his son, Tearle—Corbet's father—who then disappeared without a trace and without leaving any footprints in the snow. Corbet denies the curse and the murder, says his father still lives, but is deeply mysterious about his own past, intriguing the village further. But for Rois Meillor, the free-spirited farmer's daughter who narrates the story and happened to be in the woods the day Corbet first showed up, the mystery goes deeper. She saw him materialize out of a cloud of light riding a horse the color of buttermilk. She becomes obsessed with solving his mysteries, which ultimately leads her to her own truths about family, love, and the nature of reality. Really quite a luminous piece of writing.
November 13, 2009
I sat down and read this grippingly passionate tale in the space of 4 hours. I was hooked from the first page and I realised around halfway through that my mouth was dry, I had a frown of concentration furrowing my brows and I had a crook in my neck from not moving for a long time... The sense of distance and mysteriousness in the writing style really added to the story (which was almost a mystery itself) as I found out more and more about what was going on as I read. I loved the way I had to keep guessing about what was going to happen next - nothing was obvious and I was quite thrown by the whole Laurel/Corbet storyline. The only thing that I found disappointing was the ending. It ends so abruptly and it doesn't really finalise Corbet and Rois's relationship very well. I flipped over the last page, expecting to read about at least a hug, only to discover him getting her working on his rose bushes!! What's with that? I realise the significance of the rose bushes being covered with ivy, but STILL!! Ripped off!! Anyway, the rest of the book is fantastic so it still gets four stars.
November 1, 2017
This book offered me everything I most certainly did not expect to get. I am not sure what I did anticipate but definitely not this. Yes, I signed up for an enchanting fairy tale about magic, light or dark, about otherworldly creatures, bizarre or wonderful, about the never-bending love or maybe not and I received something entirely different, something more complex and mysterious than that. I was offered an exquisitely written tale about need, loss and life. And I came to love the path I did not plan to follow. Oh, I loved the journey so much!
Decades back, a son killed his father and subsequently, got cursed from the words carried by his father's last breath. Now, decades later, the son of the cursed man returns to the small village, the place his father fled after his crime, the place where everyone seems to remember and whisper silently about the tragedy of Lyn Hall and the cursed offspring. Rois Melior, a wild young woman, who prefers the company of the trees, the vines and the roses of the wood, seems to understand more about the confusing past of the man than anyone else. More likely than not, she is the one who needs to uncover the secrets and untangle the mess of the past, of history, of time as she is more connected to it than she would ever dare to know.
Winter Rose is the first book delivered from McKillip that I've read, and undoubtedly not the last one because I was completely mesmerised by the way this woman writes. Her writing is so atmospheric, it consumes your attention to the core and it engages your senses in such a way that you become an observer of the story as it develops and flourishes before your eyes. Her lyrical way of writing does not only trigger awe and an open-mouthed kind of state of being but it also conveys emotion. You feel what you read and since the book has, among other things, a mystery layer to it, the eerie moments really get to you. Also, the little town setting was very well crafted, making you feel quite warm inside, but yet again the author makes sure that there is an interesting distance between the reader and the book realm - you are an observer, not a participant. Sometimes, the author tries too much when it comes to writing beautifully and as a result, she may or may not get lost in her own words herself. In other words, even though her writing is extremely pleasant, passionate and melodic - some phrases are so intricate that they end up losing their meaning. Nonetheless, McKillip certainly has a talent of phrasing simple things in a unique manner.
For example, instead of saying: "[this person] would soon die", McKillip, of course, opted to say:
Soon [this person] would take nothing from life, neither air nor space nor time.
Even though I genuinely liked this book, there was something missing. Towards the end, the story got a bit predictable and repetitive. The book left off with a multitude of questions we did not get an answer to (I know there is a second book in the series but I think this one could be more "complete" if that makes sense). The characters, in general, were vivid but Rois, the main character, seemed reckless. The author tried to explain the characters' actions, but in Rois' case there wasn't a "because". She would act on a whim too often for my liking.
Winter Rose is definitely a book I would love to reread. This time, I chose to enjoy the graceful writing. Next time, I will choose to dive into the depth of the story.
P.S. Isn't the cover just jaw-droppingly gorgeous?
June 11, 2010
Winter Rose is a Tam Lin retelling, and I think a particularly good one; also, it's a favorite of mine among McKillip's books. The first person narrator (a device I can't remember McKillip using in any of her other books I've read) gives the book a little more emotional immediacy than usual, and the writing is just as gorgeous and rich as always: the faeries and the faery world are particularly outstanding, with just the otherworldliness I was missing from Janet McNaughton's An Earthly Knight.
October 24, 2018
Finished the book and still don't understand the plot...
January 26, 2021
“... something very old and very beautiful, nameless in the human world, and as dangerous as anything we could not name.”
This was my first buddy read together with The Authoress which has allowed for a whole new reading experience which I really enjoyed - thank you for that!
Although Winter Rose wasn't perfect, it's solidified McKillip as a favourite author of mine. Her prose is like a dream drawing you in - and this particular tale has lots of dreams to tell, making it all the more fitting. Although the lines between what is real for the characters and what are dreams and visions are often blurred, I found it easy enough to follow. There are mysteries and questions to be pondered over while reading, but it was in a pleasant way, one that keeps you engaged and wanting to move on to the next chapter.
Our main character Rois is more of a wild and spirited character who prefers the company of the wood over that of humans, winter and idleness leave her with a feeling of being trapped. Together with her more practical and domestic sister Laurel, they made a lovely pair - I seem to have a weak spot for sibling pairs that are almost opposites in every way except in their love for each other. In general, the Winter Rose cast has nice family dynamics and even the village itself functions well; although everyone seems to view Rois as a bit of an odd one, they do still all treat her kindly. Although we don't see much that much of Rois and Laurel's father, he struck me as such a caring one - the kind who is strict out of love but usually ends up giving in anyway. He's seen loss in his life and you can tell that he doesn't want to lose any more people who are dear to him.
Corbet, our main hero, started and left the story with riddles. In a way, he was trying to be human and it seems his personality was different depending on his whereabouts. I couldn't say which part of him was real, acted or simply new. That being said, there was definitely a kindness in him of sorts, but he was also desperate for change, and not everything he did to achieve that was good. Still, I was rooting for him to find his way out of what held him and to find happiness - preferably with Rois.
Although the blurb kind of gave it away, I was a little surprised at how much Corbet and Laurel were pushed together. For most of the time, it seemed the story could go either way. I never rooted for Laurel and Corbet - I like both of them, but not as a couple. This probably comes down to Laurel having Perrin, her childhood love and fiancé, who is just about the sweetest guy and boundless loyalty toward her. At some point, it just becomes heartbreaking to watch how these relationship shift and unfold.
I absolutely loved how the story drifted in and out of dream sequences. Thinking back, there wasn't even that much magic in this tale - there was the magic in the forest, but everything else seemed very much down to earth. But these eerie sequences allowed for a magical atmosphere that gave the story a touch of traditional fairy tale feeling. It's definitely not an action-filled plot - the characters move about their day; in and out of the wood, in and out of the village, at home by the fire, discussing, wondering, dreaming. But it doesn't need action - it's a lyrical flow of small events and feelings that change from summer to winter and eventually to spring where the story leaves us.
The ending was not exactly dissatisfying, but it's not quite what I wanted either. I wouldn't have changed a lot, but there's just that little thing that makes me feel as though Rois didn't get what she deserved. On one hand, I think the ending is one of the most important parts of a story, on the other, it is but a small issue so I can't say it ruins the plot for me. As I mentioned in the beginning; it's not perfect, but it's a very nice fairy tale with great characters nonetheless.
July 10, 2022
A gripping ghost story and fey fantasy, loosely based on Snow White, Rose Red (n.b., not the same story as 'Snow White'). McKillip channels the imagination of the early modern period, drawing on Goethe, Yeats, and the ballad of Tam Lin to suffuse gothic atmosphere and motifs into the more delighted wonder of the older folk tradition. The result is localized, ensnaring, threatening with cold suffocating horror all that was formerly familiar, green, and endless.
If McKillip blundered at all, it was in choosing to tell the story in first-person. Our protagonist is (or so I infer) mildly neurodivergent, and McKillip successfully brings the reader into what is, for Rois, the clarity of her own mind and ways of seeing the world, while at the same time giving Rois reference points that let her (and us) see how some of her behavior unsettles or confuses others. For most of the book this effect is perfectly executed - McKillip is after all a master of her craft. But in the early chapters, too much of McKillip's own facility with language is relayed through Rois. Even while loving the descriptive phrases and observations that orient us to Rois and her sister Laurel's home and neighbors, village and farms, ruin and wood, the eloquence of exposition kept trying to shake me out of Rois' head. Third-person, tightly focused on and inside Rois' mind, would have sidestepped that problem.
If McKillip blundered at all, it was in choosing to tell the story in first-person. Our protagonist is (or so I infer) mildly neurodivergent, and McKillip successfully brings the reader into what is, for Rois, the clarity of her own mind and ways of seeing the world, while at the same time giving Rois reference points that let her (and us) see how some of her behavior unsettles or confuses others. For most of the book this effect is perfectly executed - McKillip is after all a master of her craft. But in the early chapters, too much of McKillip's own facility with language is relayed through Rois. Even while loving the descriptive phrases and observations that orient us to Rois and her sister Laurel's home and neighbors, village and farms, ruin and wood, the eloquence of exposition kept trying to shake me out of Rois' head. Third-person, tightly focused on and inside Rois' mind, would have sidestepped that problem.
September 7, 2017
I intended to write this review yesterday, before the book club that was going to discuss it in the evening. But it didn't matter how many times I opened this page, I just sat there, unable to think of the words I wanted to say about this book. I'd liked it well enough, but damned if I could think of a single thing to say.
Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
September 13, 2017
What was McKillip smoking when she wrote this?
The point of this book is completely lost to me. I am simply left befuddled over its existence. The only thing even remotely entertaining about it was its lush, evocative language. But even that failed me as the language often spiraled completely out of control into allegories and phrases that tripped over themselves. And I LIKE dreamy language. I even, at times, enjoy being confused by my stories. But the amount of confusion I would experience when reading this was absurd. The narration would hop and skip between worlds, between dreams, between phrases that made such little sense that I would literally stop trying to puzzle them out and abandon the paragraph.
The plot itself also struggled. When the plot would try and throw a mystery, I found it ironically predictable. The characters were so completely lackluster that the tension felt inconsequential. The characters motivations were so bland and uninspiring that I honestly sometimes forgot why any of them were behaving the way they were.
The characters themselves are impressive only in the fact that it seems impossible for McKillip to have written so many lifeless people in one book.
Rois, the main character, is the most interesting character, and that's not really saying a lot. In fact, it's just sad. She's the "wild child", waif like daughter who would rather frolic about the woods then do, well, anything else. This stereotype was played to its maximum, to the point of tedium. I'm afraid to count the number of times the words "green", "light", and "thorn" were used in her thoughts. Actually, there's so much of Rois's nature description in here that I'm willing to bet that nearly half of this book could be shaved down without it. Rois is completely useless at anything that isn't forest related, and I mean that quite literally. By the book's own admission, she isn't even useful for doing the most simple of tasks like straightening rugs. And yes, Conversation between these characters would dwindle down to topics like rug straightening. And yes, it was painful.
Laurel and Corbett suffered from the same issue. This had to do with the fact that while Rois at least had the woodsy thing going for her, neither Laurel or Corbett had anything similar. They existed in such pathetic states of bland that I'm loathe to even have to mention them in this review. They were essential to the plot, even though I couldn't have cared less. Corbett was supposed to be the most fascinating and mysterious thing that has ever happened to this village, although the only fascinating thing I could glean from him was how he and Laurel could manage to make meaningful eye contact at least three times a chapter.
2 stars only for the sake of the writing. Maybe you'll be wiser than me and manage to understand this book. Or maybe you'll just avoid it, which would be the wisest option of all.
The point of this book is completely lost to me. I am simply left befuddled over its existence. The only thing even remotely entertaining about it was its lush, evocative language. But even that failed me as the language often spiraled completely out of control into allegories and phrases that tripped over themselves. And I LIKE dreamy language. I even, at times, enjoy being confused by my stories. But the amount of confusion I would experience when reading this was absurd. The narration would hop and skip between worlds, between dreams, between phrases that made such little sense that I would literally stop trying to puzzle them out and abandon the paragraph.
The plot itself also struggled. When the plot would try and throw a mystery, I found it ironically predictable. The characters were so completely lackluster that the tension felt inconsequential. The characters motivations were so bland and uninspiring that I honestly sometimes forgot why any of them were behaving the way they were.
The characters themselves are impressive only in the fact that it seems impossible for McKillip to have written so many lifeless people in one book.
Rois, the main character, is the most interesting character, and that's not really saying a lot. In fact, it's just sad. She's the "wild child", waif like daughter who would rather frolic about the woods then do, well, anything else. This stereotype was played to its maximum, to the point of tedium. I'm afraid to count the number of times the words "green", "light", and "thorn" were used in her thoughts. Actually, there's so much of Rois's nature description in here that I'm willing to bet that nearly half of this book could be shaved down without it. Rois is completely useless at anything that isn't forest related, and I mean that quite literally. By the book's own admission, she isn't even useful for doing the most simple of tasks like straightening rugs. And yes, Conversation between these characters would dwindle down to topics like rug straightening. And yes, it was painful.
Laurel and Corbett suffered from the same issue. This had to do with the fact that while Rois at least had the woodsy thing going for her, neither Laurel or Corbett had anything similar. They existed in such pathetic states of bland that I'm loathe to even have to mention them in this review. They were essential to the plot, even though I couldn't have cared less. Corbett was supposed to be the most fascinating and mysterious thing that has ever happened to this village, although the only fascinating thing I could glean from him was how he and Laurel could manage to make meaningful eye contact at least three times a chapter.
2 stars only for the sake of the writing. Maybe you'll be wiser than me and manage to understand this book. Or maybe you'll just avoid it, which would be the wisest option of all.
November 24, 2013
Recommended by: Year's Best Fantasy And Horror (10th)
"Winter Rose" is the story of wild child Rois and her sensible sister Laurel and their obsession with the mysterious and cursed Corbett.
I tried to like this book, it took me three attempts to read the whole thing, but I did! I just found that I didn't really enjoy it and found it difficult to get into.
For me, the language was beautiful, in parts, but the pretty metaphors, similes and adjectives got in the way of the story and at times I felt I was lost in the description and was desperately trying to find an interesting storyline.
The storyline was interesting but I don't think it needed to be so long and there wasn't really enough to keep me interested or encouraged me to wade through the description to find it. At points I felt the author used so much description to thicken up the storyline which was lacking.
The characters also didn't come across as very developed. None of them seemed to really have any flaws (apart from Corbett's grandfather) and I think this made them seem very two dimensional and distant, even the narrator, and I didn't find myself caring about any of them.
I'm a fan of fantasy but I think this particular story is a bit too mysterious for me, and I'm still not sure what happened in some points, this wasn't due to my lack of reading abilities but rather a lack of interest in what happened. It just didn't have me hooked.
Maybe this wasn't the best book to start with since I've read this isn't her best. Perhaps I'll give it another shot w/ her Riddlemaster Triology. -- esv, 1/3/07
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A gorgeous, rich, complex story framed in McKillip's trademark lyrical prose.
January 11, 2024
At its best, McKillip's purple prose is ethereal, evocative, and substantive. At its worst, it's self-indulgent and superficial. Unfortunately, Winter Rose spent most of its time in the latter category. The plot is numbingly repetitive and concerningly dull, consisting of the main characters thinking about Corbet Lynn, looking out of windows for Corbet Lynn, randomly going to Corbet Lynn's house (multiple times a day!!) to engage in meaningless conversations with Corbet Lynn, or coming home and sighing wistfully over the fact that Corbet Lynn was not in Corbet Lynn's house. Y'all, find a hobby.
Of course, there are flashes of worth, here, too, as there are in any McKillip novel. Despite the lackluster nature of its execution, I was invested in the story for Perrin's sake, who is The Best Boi™ and who deserves better. The last two-ish chapters are stronger, narratively, containing some actual Plot Significance™; and as bland as the main characters' motivations are, their family dynamic is sweet.
Of course, there are flashes of worth, here, too, as there are in any McKillip novel. Despite the lackluster nature of its execution, I was invested in the story for Perrin's sake, who is The Best Boi™ and who deserves better. The last two-ish chapters are stronger, narratively, containing some actual Plot Significance™; and as bland as the main characters' motivations are, their family dynamic is sweet.
June 11, 2013
Rois sees a man walk out to the woods. . . and being a rather wild thing herself, she gathers flowers and herbs and returns to learn of Corbet Lynn, who returned home to claim his grandfather's lands, which have fallen to wrack and ruin since the day so many years ago when his father killed his grandfather and ran off, cursed by that grandfather. Not that any two people can tell the same story of what the curse was, or any one person tell who was there to see that it was murder, or hear the curse, as Rois finds out when she investigates in the village.
Out in the woods, she sees even stranger things. And being Corbet's nearest neighbor, she and her family see somewhat of him, though not to clear up all the mystery.
And the tale involves her dead mother's wedding ring, a well, roses, dreams, an owl, a father defending his son from a very uncanny woman in the woods, spring and winter, and repairing a house that all but fallen to pieces.
Out in the woods, she sees even stranger things. And being Corbet's nearest neighbor, she and her family see somewhat of him, though not to clear up all the mystery.
And the tale involves her dead mother's wedding ring, a well, roses, dreams, an owl, a father defending his son from a very uncanny woman in the woods, spring and winter, and repairing a house that all but fallen to pieces.
July 23, 2018
Winter Rose is a quiet, slow-paced fantasy focused on a character named Rois who can go back and forth between the fae world and her human world. When the grandson of a man who was murdered long ago appears in her small town, rumors abound as to why he’s back. Rois is desperate to find out his past and that of his family, but it means going against the faerie queen and putting herself in great danger.
You definitely have to be a patient reader to get through this book. This book is very slow-paced and not much happens; when stuff does happens, it has a surreal feeling to it that isn’t quite magical realism because this is a fantasy book, but almost touches on it. For much of the first half of the book, I wasn’t really sure what was going on or really where the plot was going, but I’ve read McKillip’s books before, so I trusted her to get around to it eventually. I did very much enjoy reading this book, I can just see how other readers might not like how it’s constructed or written.
I especially loved how the faerie world (it’s not really called that, but it’s pretty much what it was, I think) was depicted in this book. It’s hard to go too into detail with what exactly happens, because it’s all woven together, but I loved the beautiful descriptions of nature and how wonderfully McKillip does in showing that the fae world is beautiful beyond imagining, and yet incredibly terrifying.
The slow reveal of Rois’s and Corbet’s respective pasts was super interesting, and that more than anything kept me hooked into the book. Coming to terms with one’s past and how it has shaped a family and a person is a big theme throughout the book, and it was handled in interesting ways. One of the most evocative moments is when Rois sees Corbet’s grandfather within Corbet himself, showing that Corbet has a cruel streak because of how his grandfather abused his father.
If you’re at all a fan of McKillip, I would highly recommend this book. If you’re a patient reader who likes fantasy, definitely give this a try. It’s interesting and the prose is gorgeous.
Also posted on Purple People Readers.
You definitely have to be a patient reader to get through this book. This book is very slow-paced and not much happens; when stuff does happens, it has a surreal feeling to it that isn’t quite magical realism because this is a fantasy book, but almost touches on it. For much of the first half of the book, I wasn’t really sure what was going on or really where the plot was going, but I’ve read McKillip’s books before, so I trusted her to get around to it eventually. I did very much enjoy reading this book, I can just see how other readers might not like how it’s constructed or written.
I especially loved how the faerie world (it’s not really called that, but it’s pretty much what it was, I think) was depicted in this book. It’s hard to go too into detail with what exactly happens, because it’s all woven together, but I loved the beautiful descriptions of nature and how wonderfully McKillip does in showing that the fae world is beautiful beyond imagining, and yet incredibly terrifying.
The slow reveal of Rois’s and Corbet’s respective pasts was super interesting, and that more than anything kept me hooked into the book. Coming to terms with one’s past and how it has shaped a family and a person is a big theme throughout the book, and it was handled in interesting ways. One of the most evocative moments is when Rois sees Corbet’s grandfather within Corbet himself, showing that Corbet has a cruel streak because of how his grandfather abused his father.
If you’re at all a fan of McKillip, I would highly recommend this book. If you’re a patient reader who likes fantasy, definitely give this a try. It’s interesting and the prose is gorgeous.
Also posted on Purple People Readers.
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