I read this book with conflicted feelings: on the one hand, I was impressed by what a talented and insightful writer L'Engle was even so early in her career, and on the other, compared with her later works, it's clear here that L'Engle hadn't quite hit her stride. What for another writer would be a magnum opus, is for L'Engle a mere test of the pen. Almost all the things that would make "A Wrinkle in Time" and later works so outstanding are present here, but still only in semi-developed form.

It's the 1950s (the book was released in 1957) and the Bowen family is overwintering in the French Alps. It should have been a fun holiday while Courtney, the husband, is on sabbatical, but instead he has lost his teaching job and is trying to get some writing done while wrestling with the decision of whether or not to accept the one job offer he has received, and move the whole family from New York City to small-town Indiana. Meanwhile, Emily, the main viewpoint character, who is Courtney's wife and more than ten years his junior, is wrestling with her own attraction to an old family friend, who is also overwintering with his teenage son in the same town. Everyone is trying to watch out for Gertrude, an American woman and a hero of the resistance, whose health was ruined in the camps.

The setting is marvelously realized, and feels both real and charmingly vintage. The characters bathe in a hip-bath in the kitchen, use hot water bottles instead of central heating, and only have one phone, which hangs from the wall. This may have been particularly striking to me because I originally thought this was a more recent release and I was struggling to place the period details, but in any case the book feels very naturally and authentically 50s, which is either a plus or a minus, depending on your point of view. WWII is still very much on everyone's minds, with Gertrude and her camp tattoo, Madame Peridot's history of collaborating with the occupiers, and the disagreement explodes between the young people over the discovery that one of them is technically Jewish. That particular facet of the story feels peculiarly quaint, and yet...not. The racism and prejudice the characters are trying to confront are still very much in evidence today, sixty years later.

The relationships within and between the characters are where L'Engle's magic is most clearly evident. Everyone is conflicted, everyone is questing, everyone is well-intentioned and striving to understand the universe and their place in it. This could be tedious or preachy, but L'Engle makes everyone sympathetic and well-rounded, especially in the interactions between mothers and daughters. Although Emily and her daughter Virginia are not just early prototypes for Meg Murry of "A Wrinkle in Time" and her relationships with her own mother and then later with her daughter Poly, the richness and delicacy is already there, as is the emphasis on women as having thoughts, feelings, and stories of their own. I have to admit that I didn't like Emily and Virginia *as much* as I did the protagonists of the later, YA books, and the plot lacks some of the same urgency, not to mention the presence of magic, but "A Winter's Love" is definitely worth reading for anyone interested in L'Engle's work, or anyone who just wants to curl up with something warm and read about a chilly winter and an impossible love in the Alps.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

How can you explain being instantly drawn into a book where nothing happens? That is what happened to me during the first chapter of A Winter's Love. Emily Bowen is spending time in a foreign country with her husband and children during the Christmas holidays. Her husband lost his teaching post over office politics. In a house full of people, Emily is alone. Her husband locks himself in his study and in his thoughts. Torn between loving him, hating him and being ignored it is hard when a friend from the States is vacationing at the casino near her hotel. He sees her. He hears her. And she struggles to do the right thing by her husband. Gripping, atmospheric, and one of the things we require in a great book - universal truths and emotions that touch all people of all backgrounds. An absolutely fabulous read.

Although an early work by L'Engle, the writing is still beautiful. Some of the characters in this story show up in some of her later works. This is a story of love and conflict and morality. Emily has a tough choice to make and much time is spent examining her feelings. The story flowed well and the characters were interesting. This story is being republished as I understand it was out of print and difficult to find. I wanted to read it because I loved L'Engle's [book:A Wrinkle in Time|18131].

Thanks to Open Road Integrated Media through NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this quiet and persuasive tale of domestic life, first published in 1957 but with themes and conflicts that are timeless. Courtney Bowen has lost his job in academia and takes his wife and two daughters to spend a year in the French Alps where he hopes to be able to concentrate on his writing. But his failure to do so causes him to withdraw from family life and the strains this puts on his marriage causes his wife Emily to doubt her relationship with him and find herself increasingly drawn to an old friend Abe Fielding. Nothing very original in such a scenario but it is deftly and convincingly handled. Not exactly Anna Karenina but a love story on a small scale – which after all is the most any of us experience in real life. It’s an insightful exploration of marriage, desire, fidelity and temptation, a convincing portrait of motherhood and the divided loyalties of a good woman sorely tempted by an alternative life. It all takes place not long after WWII and there are still echoes, with one of the characters having been in the Resistance and a concentration camp, and another having hosted German officers. But essentially it’s a love story, a story of a marriage and domesticity and a gentle and compelling read.

A Winter's Love is a very powerful novel and very thought-provoking. The characters were very likable and well-developed. The setting was evocative. Though the ending was sad, I liked it and thought it was realistic.