Best really wintery books?

[MorrisZapp]

I know it's spelled wintry but I don't like it 😁

I love reading books set in really wintery conditions. Deep snow, abandoned cabins, blizzard warnings, people getting lost in drifts on their way to their own barn etc.

Does anyone have a favourite wintery read? I've found most of the current crop of country house murder type stuff to be unsatisfying. I think I need something a bit grittier.

Like if Fargo was a book. Maybe historical. Cowboys??

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Maybe that’s not quite what you mean, sorry.

I should add my own actual favourites which are the Mattagash books by Cathie Pelletier. Why they aren't hugely famous I'll never know. Hilarious, heart breaking and such nuance. She is a genius.

It is literally what I mean! I adore that book. The maple sugar dance ❤️

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver.

Sun at midnight - Rosie Thomas. Set in Antarctica (although Antarctic summer still pretty snowy!). No historical cowboys though - sorry!

One for the blackbird one for the crow

It's probably not entirely what you are looking for but aarhe part of rhe story is centred around surviving winter in harsh conditions

I was going to suggest Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. But I see a discerning PP has beat me to it! It's terrific.

Farmer boy is a good addition to that canon then, and half of the blue castle by lm Montgomery is set in deep winter muskoka Canada.

miss smilla’s feeling for snow?

the original snow Queen?

the snow spider

The Shining

another vote for the amazing One For The Blckbird, One for a the Crow. I think about it often! Calamity by the same author is also excellent though not seasonal.

Oh I love this book, really makes me think of deep drifts of snow and gales whipping round cruel mountains.

Also Thin Air by Michelle Paver snow, mountains and a terrifying story.

The Snow Child

The Dark is Rising

Yes to Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow.

The Bear and the Nightingale series by Katherine Arden. Medieval Russian fantasy.

Brilliant reading list! I actually have One for the Blackbird on my shelf, I'll get it down tonight ❤️

If you fancy a classic what about Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak? Not all in the snow but some memorable snow scenes.

Kristen Hannah ~The Great Alone. Set in Alaska. Loved it

I second The Bear and the Nightingale a previous poster said. It's the first in a trilogy, Russian inspired fantasy. It's beautiful.

I also love The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, it's a beautifully written historical fiction set in Alaska with some magical realism.
And recently read Midnight in Everwood by M A Kuzniar which is beautiful too, a dark retelling of The Nutcracker

I'm reading The Sanatorium at the moment. It's very snowy!

I absolutely LOVE "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow" - the title makes it sound like it's going to be some twee shite but it's twisty and savage and absolutely freezing cold.

A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore. You can really feel the bitter cold. Also by her is The Siege set in WW2 Stalingrad, again intense, killer cold and starvation.

A place called winter by Patrick Gale. About emigration to Canada.

"The coldest place on earth" looks good but I haven't read