'Finely judged writing like this comes from a place of instinct, and
it marks Melrose out as someone to watch . . . Midwinter is a great
success' Melissa Harrison, Guardian
Father and Son, Landyn and Vale Midwinter, are Suffolk farmers, living
together on land their family has worked for generations. But they are
haunted there by a past they have long refused to confront: the death of
Cecelia, beloved wife and mother, when Vale was just a child. Both men
have carried her loss, unspoken.
Until now.
With the onset of a mauling winter, something between them snaps.
While Vale makes increasingly desperate decisions, Landyn retreats,
finding solace in the land, his animals - and a vixen who haunts the
farm and seems to bring with her both comfort and protection.
Tender and lyrical, alive to language and nature, Midwinter is a novel
about guilt, blame, lost opportunities and, ultimately, it is a story
about love and the lengths we will go to find our way home.
'Melrose elegantly weaves narratives detailing the men's internal
tumult with lush descriptions of their natural surroundings . . . A
moving story about the cruelty of chance, modern masculinity and the
transformative power of the bonds between men' Financial Times
**'I have rarely read a narrative voice as distinctive as Landyn's, and
the loving depiction of regional English working-class masculinity is
unusual and timely . . . This is certainly not a light-hearted book, but
it offers the true consolation of some very good writing' Sarah Moss,
TLS
**
'A penetrating study of grief and guilt' **Daily Mail
**
