I always thought that I didn't enjoy short story collections, but, of course, it's Lily King who proves me wrong. I loved 'Writers and Lovers' and this collection continues the love affair. I don't know how she does it, but King makes you feel like you know these characters immediately. Her stories have this nostalgic feeling mixed with melancholy to me. They both feel very now but usually take place years or decades ago. This feeling exists even when we don't know what year we're in. These stories never feel incomplete or meandering, they are perfectly paced and vivid slice of life vignettes covering hope, love, connecting, and transition.

My favorites are The Creature (who really is the 'creature'?), When in the Dordogne (I'm so happy he finally felt cared for), Five Tuesdays in Winter (I want to go to that bookstore!), and The Man at the Door.

This was a short story collection made up of people of varied ages. They range from a teenage boy to an octogenarian. The situations are very interesting as well I loved this collection and highly recommend it.

I read through Lily King's Five Tuesdays in Winter, and I must admit it did not engage me as much as I would have liked. I am afraid I do not have a great deal to say about the book; I wish to refrain from providing comprehensive feedback.

A lot of the times when I read slice-of-life short stories, I feel underwhelmed more than anything else. It's not that I dislike these stories, exactly, but rather that they often end up feeling ungrounded, "slices" that don't evoke any underlying sense of the totality that they've presumably been abstracted from. That is, the characters and their stories feel like props on a stage, a tableau contrived for the sake of the short story but that falls apart as soon as that story is over.

I bring this up because you will find none of that in Lily King's excellent collection. King's stories are slice of life, yes, but far from feeling flimsy or ungrounded, they are substantial and, more remarkably, moving. The stories in Five Tuesdays in Winter find their characters--children, teenagers, young adults, mothers, fathers--in singular moments in their lives, times during which their ways of thinking--and living--have been called into question, brought into the light, disrupted, modified, shifted. All these moments hinge on the interpersonal, on a growing relationship or a severed one, or else on a relationship that a character must now renegotiate on different terms: a mother trying to connect with her daughter in the wake of her husband's death, a boy learning to see his life differently in the absence of his parents, a man reuniting with the college roommate he used to be infatuated with. To say that these moments are singular though, is not to say that they entail some kind of monumental upheaval; they are small moments, but just because they are small does not mean that they register as any less important to the characters who experience them.

More to the point, what I love about King's stories is that they feel meaningful without being dramatic; they convey a real sense of impact without resorting to overblown scenes or language. The writing is measured and graceful, the stories pared down in a way that feels compelling rather than plain: you want to know more, but you are only given enough to know that you want more. Nowhere is this more evident than in this collection's characters: the characters in Five Tuesdays in Winter feel fleshed out not because we're given some perfunctory background on them in each story, but rather because we are allowed little illuminating glimpses into the lives they lead.

(My favourite story was by far "Five Tuesdays in Winter," but I also especially loved "When in the Dordogne," "North Sea," "Creature," and "South.")

The stories in Five Tuesdays in Winter are by turns affirming and unsettling, hopeful and melancholy, but regardless of tone I thought this was just an all around lovely collection.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic for providing me with an e-ARC of this via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

FIVE TUESDAYS IN WINTER is a lovely, captivating collection of short stories by Lily King. I have read and loved King’s other work- and other fans of hers will not be disappointed by this collection. Some stories are heart wrenching, some disturbing, some other worldly- but all are moving and inspired. I devoured these stories in two quick sittings, sad to reach the last page. I highly recommend this short story collection to any fiction fan- a truly delightful.

Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King - 3.5 ⭐️

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Review ⭐️ - After reading Writers & Lovers in the last couple of months, I was so excited that I was able to get a pre-released copy of this. Five Tuesdays in Winter, is a range of short stories that follows individuals through a number of times in their lives, from their parents vacations, to parent break ups, moving in with your brother following a failed relationship, single mums managing despite hardship and everything in between. I have to say some of these stories, captured my heart more than others, and they were the ones I wanted to read more and more off! I definitely prefer books that connect stories and spend more time with one set of characters than a collection of short stories but with that in mind, Lily King has managed to cover a number of characters and covered them so well, I have to say I enjoyed this more than I expected I would once I started - this definitely won’t be the last book that I read by Lily King.

Thank you to net galley for a copy of this pre release date.

After reading Writers and Lovers and loving it so much last summer, it felt like an awesome opportunity to read Lily King’s short story collection as an advance review copy. I wondered if she would master the shorter form as much as she did for character development over 300 pages. In short, I’ll spoil it right away: yes she does!

There’s some things I’d enjoyed in her novel that I found again in her stories: the ability to make the reader care about these characters, the density each of the characters have, sometimes by some anecdotes that seem superfluous but that you end up remembering all too well, the sudden tragedies and a right balanced between being distanced from the characters and a certain sentimentality (but it’s definitely not a romance – see the eponymous story). Most stories resonated with me, even though I missed the point of some others (probably bad timing and fatigue on my part, you need to focus not to miss the clues, like in the story “Creature”)

This collection has 10 stories and I can say I loved 6 of them, the seventh took me into a rollercoaster but mostly for fun (“The man at the door”) and three weren’t really for me. That’s a great tally for a collection! I wanted to confirm if Lily King could use another voice than the one of a young female aspiring writer, and I was fully reassured! She can do teenage boy, Southern belle, grieving mother, she can even do a 90 year old man (“Waiting for Charlie”)!

“When in Dordogne” is probably the most striking story of the book. A lonely teenage boy stays home with two house-sitting university students while his father (a university professor) and his mother travel to France for the summer. The two students are a breath of fresh air and fun in an otherwise very dark and dull home. By the end of the summer the boy will have grown so much, an experience he will remember for years to come.

In “North Sea”, a recent German widow is taking her daughter for a vacation with the hope that the girl opens up to her and talks about her grief. In “Hotel Seattle”, a gay man agrees to meet with an old friend who had reacted strongly when he’d come out twenty years or so before. In “Timeline”, a young aspiring writer / waitress (an alternate version of the one from Writers and Lovers?) moves in with her brother and his girlfriend.

This collection has convinced me to look into Lily King’s back catalogue. I want to discover her other novels and I wish she’d had written more short stories!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book for review consideration.

Having loved Lily King’s Writers & Lovers I was looking forward to reading more of her work and I can happily say (or write) that her first-ever collection of short stories did not disappoint. More often than not I find short story collections to be a mixed bag (with some good ones, some meh ones, and even a bad egg or two). But, I found myself drawn to all of the stories in Five Tuesdays in Winter. While the stories focus on characters who don’t always have much in common (be it their age, the time when and/or place where they are living, their fears or desires) their narratives are characterised by a bittersweet tone that will elicit feelings of nostalgia in the reader (regardless of whether they have experienced what the characters are experiencing). Despite the title of this collection many of these stories are set during the summer and easily transport us right there alongside the characters so that we too are experiencing the heat, elation, and almost-surreality of their summer holidays (that feeling of being free from the usual routines etc). King captures with unsparing clarity the thoughts and feelings of her characters, and conveys their wide range of emotions, honing in on the longing, unease, giddiness, and sadness they experience over the course of their stories. Some are in love with someone who may or may not reciprocate their feelings, others are in a phase of transition, for example, from childhood to adulthood, or mired in the confusion of adolescence.

In the first story, ‘Creature’, Cara, a fourteen-year-girl, is employed by a well-off family as a babysitter for the summer holidays. During the time she spends at this family’s house she becomes infatuated with Hugh, her employer's son, who is much older than her. Our narrator is an aspiring author who likes to envision herself as a Jane Eyre sort of figure but, one thing is to daydream about Hugh, another is realising that Hugh has no compunction about making a move on her (when she’s very much underage).
In ‘Five Tuesdays in Winter’ a single-father and bookseller falls for his employer who is also tutoring his daughter in Spanish. Mitchell is however unable to express his feelings and spends much of his time longing to confess his love to her. In ‘When in the Dordogne’ the son of two professors bonds with the two college students who have been hired to housesit his home and keep an eye on him. In ‘North Sea’ a mother and daughter are on vacation together but their strained relationship results in a less than idyllic time. While the following stories also present us with different perspectives and scenarios they explore similar themes (hope, connection, love). I liked how King manages to be both a gentle and an unflinching storyteller, that is able to make you happy one moment and sad the next. I also appreciated that the stories didn’t have neat endings or ‘valuable’ life lessons but often read like a slice-of-life that is providing us with a glimpse into a specific period of her characters’ lives. King captures how confusing feelings can be sometimes, so that we have characters both longing for something or someone while at the same time feeling uneasy at the possibility of attaining what, or who, they’d thought they desired.
My favourites were ‘Creature’, ‘When in the Dordogne’, ‘Timeline’, and ‘Hotel Seattle’.
King’s understated prose is a marvel to read and I had a wonderful time with this collection. If you were a fan of Writers & Lovers you should definitely pick this one up. Moving and wistful Five Tuesdays in Winter is a scintillating collection!

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderfully-written short story collection. I loved Writers & Lovers, and this collection did not disappoint. Though only a few were particularly memorable, I enjoyed reading each story and look forward to Lily King’s next book.

A rare short story collection where every entry is a good one. I love Lily King, Writers and Lovers is amongst my favourite books, and Euphoria is in my close seconds. This collection is very much in keeping with those novels, close inspections, sometimes uncomfortably so, of neuroses, families, and love. Reading this collection is like being invited to your friend’s awkward family dinner. You might find out things you didn’t want to know, but you’ll enjoy it for the story and the unraveling, and it will make you will feel relieved, that, by comparison, you and yours are quite normal.

I don’t read too many anthologies—the stories are generally too short for me. However, this collection of shorts by Lily King caught my eye. Not only does it have many glowing reviews, but its main thrust is basically love, all types of love, and the consequences of love.

There are 10 stories in this collection. I liked most of them to varying degrees. The first (Creature) and the last (The Man at the Door) stories were my least favorite. I could not connect with the characters in Creature, which unfortunately for me is by far the longest of the stories. The Man at the Door is a fantasy (not my favorite genre), and I also disliked the characters. To me, the best were Seattle Hotel, When in the Dordogne, and Five Tuesdays in Winter. Seattle Hotel is a profound portrayal of the messiness of love. I had chills run up my spine when I reached the end of Dordogne, a tale about life lessons conveyed from two college-aged house sitters to a sheltered 14-year-old boy. Five Tuesdays in Winter is a poignant tale of unspoken love. Waiting for Charlie and North Sea touched me as well. Others seemed to end with a jolt. A couple just left me scratching my head, especially The Man at the Door. I wished my three favorites had been longer—I wasn’t ready to leave those characters.

I enjoyed this collection of short stories and am now interested in reading Ms. King’s novels. This author writes beautifully, but not the type of beautifully that slows the pace. She a master at writing dialogue. She knows how to touch the heart. More importantly, she inspires one to ponder. I love when I find myself so affected by a book that I am moved to reflect upon the themes. I highly recommend this anthology to all short story lovers.

Thank you Net Galley, Grove Press, and Ms. Lily King for an ARC of this anthology. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

This is giving me all the good feelings. I am missing the coziness of winter and the holidays! I'd recommend this book all year 'round.

Oh, Lily King. I’ve read three of her works this month - a reread of Euphoria & of Writers & Lovers and now this new collection. She is wonderful. Very wonderful!! There wasn’t a story in this that I didn’t love, they were all so good. Highly recommend!

Special thanks to NetGalley, Grove Publishing/Grove Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is my absolute favorite genre, short stories. What a great collection.. Usually as I always say short stories are hit or miss. This book was a hit for me. There are stories about love, kindness, grief, hope and more. There is a very touching story of a grandfather going again and again to visit his granddaughter in the hospital, a boy who is left by his parents to be raised by two college students who are house sitting in France,, a single father who falls in love with his employee at his bookstore who lets his insecurities get in the way, and more. Of course , there were some in there I wasn't crazy about but all in all, definitely a hit in my opinion and I gave it a 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 stars. I hope Lily King puts out more short stories.

Highly recommended, especially if you like short stories with very relatable characters.

Lily King is my new favorite author! Five Tuesdays in Winter is her short story collection featuring ten different slices of life. Fans of Writers and Lovers or Olive Kitteridge will enjoy the moving depictions of family, friendship, and yearning in these stories.

Five Tuesdays in Winter is a gorgeous collection of ten short stories. Love, loss, and human connection are the foundational themes of each tale, and King does a beautiful job of portraying these themes throughout.

Out of the ten, there were two tales that truly captured my heart and stayed with me long after I finished reading them. The first was one called Five Tuesdays in Winter, which is about Mitchell, a bookstore owner whose wife left him because of his inability to show emotion. Deeply affected by this loss, he now has a fear of showing a growing affection for his employee Kate. The two bond over mushroom soup while Mitchell ponders over whether to get her a gift for her upcoming birthday, which falls on Valentine's Day.

The second story was called When in the Dordogne, and is about a young high school boy who is left in the care of two college sophomore students named Ed and Grant while his parents take off for the summer to deal with his father's breakdown. Ed and Grant show the boy a new way of living, giving him the courage to live a more free and unrestricted life, unbound from the rules and shame his parents place on him. When in the Dordogne is vibrant, uplifting, and full of life. A story with a lot of reading between the lines, it was unique and compelling, and left me wanting more.

Although I’ve just highlighted two, other heartbreaking tales such as Hotel Seattle and Waiting for Charlie were deeply moving and thought-provoking. I never knew what to expect when finishing one story and beginning a new one.

Five Tuesdays in Winter was a reminder of why I love short stories, because each one has the power to take you somewhere new, and that's exactly what the stories in this book did. Every story in the book felt like a journey to a new place, with Lily's prose powerful enough to evoke an array of emotions with each one I read. The stories are thoughtfully crafted and appealing, with a cast of characters that leave you with a desire to know more about them.

I felt drawn in and engaged from the first page, and found it hard to put this one down, reading the entire book in one sitting. It was my first time reading Lily King's work, and I actually have a copy of her book Writers & Lovers on my shelf, which I now feel drawn to pick up after finishing this one.

Five Tuesdays in Winter is a collection of ten short stories. Although none of the characters appear more than once, each story is linked by stories of searching for love and connection. Like any short story collection, I enjoyed some stories more than others, but true to form for Lily King, the quality of the writing never lags. 'When in the Dordogne', about a young boy who spends the summer with two college kids watching his house while his parents travel to Europe and 'Hotel Seattle' about a man reconnecting with his college roommate after coming out were two standouts.

I am a massive fan of King. Her novel Euphoria is excellent and her previous book, Writers and Lovers, is one of my favorite books of all time. Part of my love for King's work comes from her ability to create rich, detailed, beautiful characters without relying on flashy plots. While I very much enjoyed this collection, I think my favorite part about King's work is getting to watch characters develop slowly and intricately, which sometimes is only fully possible throughout the course of a novel. Given that this is work of short stories, I sometimes felt that the story ended just as I was getting to know a character in detail, leaving me wanting more. Although personally disappointed, this is undeniably the sign of a good book.

King does a FANTASTIC job writing the intricacies of the human condition in this 10 short story collection. Each story feels unique and individual: King writes from different perspectives seemingly effortlessly, and each story left me both satisfied and wanting even more. The characters were charming, the interactions were charming, and way King writes from different age groups so well was fantastic, and this was overall such an enjoyable read! This is definitely worth the read, and I highly encourage everybody to pick this up, lovers of short stories or not!

A strong short story collection. The whole does feel cohesive in the way the characters search for connection. But the collection is delightfully varied in plot and principle characters. My favorite thing about short stories is having a sharp twist at the end that feels surprising but also inevitable. A couple of the stories here hit this perfectly for me.

Five Tuesdays in Winter was such an enjoyable read. Each of the ten short stories are different and unique, but every story focused on highlighting a tender moment of human connection and all left me smiling at the end. Truly beautiful storytelling. Lily King manages to draw you in and build a true connect between reader and characters within the confines of a short story. Each story left me missing the characters and wanting more. Whether you like short stories or not, please check out Lily King's new short story collection as I doesn't disappoint.