Five Tuesdays in Winter is a collection of ten short stories that centers on love. It explores familial relationships, loss, betrayal and heartaches. A lot of stand outs but my favorites are Where in the Dordogne, Hotel Seattle and the title itself, Five Tuesdays in Winter.

Some stories are heart warming and some are heartbreaking. Each story can take you to that familiar feeling, or to a journey some place new, bringing with you different range emotions. Some stories are interesting enough to be developed into full stories. But then again, that’s what short stories are for - leaving you wanting for more and at the same time content with where the story takes you.

Enjoyed this one and might be picking up Writers and Lovers soon! Thank you NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to @netgalley @lilybooks and @groveatlantic for this gifted eARC in exchange of my honest review.

Five Tuesdays In Winter is a collection of short stories that take us through the challenges in a variety of people’s lives. The collection of stories shows young teens navigating their families’ unique situations, adults navigating loss and divorce, and even a young mother trying to hold onto her dreams.

These stories are so beautifully written. Collections of short stories have never been my go-to. But I’m so glad I was able to read these. They truly show the complicated nature of people’s lives. And remind us that there’s usually so much more going on than what meets the eye.

This is definitely one to grab! Five Tuesdays In Winter releases November 9th, 2021!

The short stories started off really great and I was enjoying them and couldn’t put my book down. Unfortunately towards the end, they got worse and worse but were graciously also shorter. I was left feeling sad and pretty hopeless by the end of these.

This is a collection of 10 short stories. They carry the unifying themes of loss and grief and the desperate search for love. There’s also the ongoing theme of transition - a pivotal moment that will take the character from one place in their life to another. There is a compelling moment in every story. King’s writing is so direct and holds no punches. While I could see almost each of these short stories becoming a full novel, each still feels complete at the end. I don’t read a lot of short story collections but I found this one really satisfying and loved almost all of the stories.

Included in November edition of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month’s best fiction picks for Zoomer magazine’s Books section. (Review at related link.)

In Five Tuesdays in Winter, King pens 10 stories, roughly 25 pages each.

Here’s the list with my individual ratings:

Creature - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Five Tuesdays in Winter - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
When in the Dordogne - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
North Sea - ⭐️⭐️
Timeline - ⭐️⭐️
Hotel Seattle - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Waiting for Charlie - ⭐️⭐️
Mansard - ⭐️⭐️
South - ⭐️⭐️
The Man at the Door - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Of these 10, I recommend 3. I think Five Tuesdays is her strongest story. It focuses on a male bookseller and his daughter after his wife abandoned them. He hires a new female bookseller for the store, and the two explore an awkward, endearing relationship over mushroom soup. I wanted to live in this story and their quirky love affair. Why wasn’t this the book??

The Man at the Door is the most interesting in the collection and I believe it’s King’s response to negative reviewers. The lead character is trying to write a new book while nursing an infant. A man appears at her door with an ARC copy of the book she is writing with his notes! It’s definitely quirky as things get a little David Lynch-esque, and you're never quite sure what is real or imagined. These are the kind of tales that work well in short form and I wish she had written more like this one.

I saw a lot of people on Goodreads describe this book as a collection of love stories. I totally disagree. I thought the underlying theme was about how others' presence and absence shape our identity.

King is definitely a skilled wordsmith but overall I felt a lot of her stories were derivative and uninspired.

Five Tuesdays in Winter is a collection of short stories with a wide range of characters from different time periods. While each character is going through something different, each story touches on the topics of love, loss and family. With any collection of short stories, there will be certain ones that will resonate with you more. For me, my favorite was “Waiting for Charlie” which features an elderly man who is visiting his comatose granddaughter. Each story is beautifully written with relatable characters and situations. This was my first work by Lily King and I’m very excited to read her other works!

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

2.5 rounded down

Lily King and I have a mixed past: I didn't get along with Euphoria at all (I thought it was overwritten and the story was frankly preposterous at times) but loved Writers & Lovers, a portrait of a writer which ended up being one of my most enjoyable reads of that year.

So it was with slight trepidation that I approached this collection. My reading experience fell somewhere in the middle of the previous two I've had with King. I loved the first and final stories (the latter of which was incidentally also about a struggling writer), but struggled with many in between -- it wasn't that they were bad, they were just not all that memorable and featured traits of short stories which I often have difficulty with (being dumped in the middle of a story with little context, lacking plot, more character and emotion focused narratives).

I'd definitely try King's next novel, but perhaps her short stories aren't for me.

There wasn't a single story in this collection that I didn't like, which is a rarity when it comes to short story collections for me - definitely a new favourite. I actually also enjoyed this more than Writers and Lovers; the essence was the same, but I actually enjoyed the short length for Lily King's writing, I think she's great at fleshing a story out and any extra length could have dragged or been too indulgent. Each story almost felt like reading an entire book anyway! I enjoyed the variety of stories in this one, we explored so many different relationships and dynamics and even took a step into the meta/speculative realm - I could see that some people might hate this, but it worked for me in the context of that particular story. I recommend for people that like slice of life - this was the perfect taste of these characters for me.

Lily King has a knack for writing about authentic, multi-layered characters. I’m not a huge fan of short stories, but I’d read King’s grocery list if she published it! This collection is a quick read and most of the stories are fairly dark, but there is a lot of human emotion and the beautiful writing is exactly what you’ve come to expect from this author. A must read for fans of short stories and fans of Lily King.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for this ARC.

Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King.

I'm reading Lily King for the first time. Five Tuesdays in winter, the name itself intrigued me to find more about this amazing, moving book. It's an anthology of ten short stories. The stories evoke a wide range of emotions, including loss, sadness, and love. All of the stories were enjoyable to read. They were lovely in their chaotic ways. All of the stories are unique and profound. But there was one tale in particular that struck me: 'Waiting for Charlie.' This anecdote demonstrates how fragile life may be. This storey affects us all in a variety of ways. Lily King has a knack for capturing a reader's heart. In the future, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for her work.

I LOVED 'Writers & Lovers,' by Lily King so I knew I wanted to be able to read this as well. I was so lucky to be able to get a galley copy from NetGalley, as well as an advanced audio copy from Libro.fm!

I have not read a lot of short stories, but this book convinced me it might be my next favorite thing! There are ten separate stories having to do with different types of love: Young and naive love, unrequited love, lost love, familial love, etc.

My top three stories are:
Creature, Timeline, and Waiting for Charlie. None of them are happy, but all of them are beautiful.

If you like short stories, or aren't sure if you do (like I was!), I would definitely give this a read. I know I will be re-reading and re-listening to this.

Always a pleasure to read this author. While the writing varies among the stories overall I enjoyed this selection very much. I love her characters and the situations she places them in. I did find the prepub version a bit difficult to navigate.

Pure Lilly King. Each story packs a wallop and deals with things we all experience in life, like grief, as well as some we don’t. The first story of a young girls abuse was especially gripping to me.

This is a collection of short stories that are a pleasure to read. Some of them are moving, some are thoughtful and some are sad but they are all enjoyable to read. I especially enjoyed the moving story of German mother trying to reconnect with her daughter after her husband’s premature death. All of these stories cover family life and loss and they are excellently told. You sympathise with the characters both young and old and the short stories cover both first loves and sad endings

It's been a while since I've read a short story collection I enjoyed as thoroughly as this one. I loved Euphoria and Writers & Lovers, so when I saw Lily King had a new collection coming out, I instantly added it to my TBR. This collection really is a masterclass in the short story form, immersing you in a setting and inspiring deep attachments to the characters in just a few short pages.

My favorites were the titular story (for its portrayal of grief and love), "When in the Dordogne" (for evoking the feeling of being a kid home alone and feeling older than your years), and "The Man at the Door" (for its disorienting surrealist plot that has you on your toes the whole time—also that ending!).

If you like short stories, I highly recommend this collection. I read it as an ARC from NetGalley, but it's available everywhere next week on November 9. Go ahead and pre-order a copy.

5 big stars for this short story collection by Lily King. I absolutely ADORED this book and did not want it to end. I connected with some stories more than others, my favorites being Five Tuesdays in Winter, The Man at the Door, and When in Dordogne.

These stories were darker than I was expecting from King, Five Tuesdays in Winter definitely being the lightest and most hopeful of the 10. These stories are full of emotion, desire, heartbreak, loss and so much more. King's writing is so honest, raw, and pure. I did not want the stories to end, and I would've read full novels of each of them.

Very rarely do I enjoy short stories. I always feel somehow cheated or disappointed. There’s no time to develop a relationship with the characters before the story ends. The stories themselves seem undeveloped and I always want more. The only reason I chose this book was because of the author. Lily King writes in a way that my heart responds to. She is able to go from pathos to joy, sometimes in a single sentence. There is an art to constructing a well written short story and I was delighted to find that she has accomplished this. There are a few common themes throughout: loss, grief and love. Each one different yet similar. She is an honest writer and presents a cast of very human characters, flaws and all. I was not left unsatisfied. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an Arc.
4*

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. Last year, I read Writers and Lovers by Lily King and loved it - the writing took me a while to get into but the characters were so good! With this collection, I thought the writing was immediately engaging. The first story, "Creature", was such a great opening story, I was immediately won over. I think my favourites were the titular story, "Five Tuesdays in Winter", which felt gentle and a little sad and lovely, and "When in the Dordogne". King's stories feel full of feeling and she gives the reader time to sit with that feeling. The stories towards the end of the collection impressed me less and were definitely less memorable.

there are stories and then there are STORIES, and I think we all know which ones lily king writes.

after reading euphoria, I was desperate for more of that longing, dark, heavy, desperation that allowed me to grieve with myself. no author was able to connect with me in the same way since, until I read this beautiful story.

choosing a favorite story would be like choosing a favorite child almost. each story goes into the depth and rawness behind grief and loss - and how it does not take prisoners. there are young couples, single parents, best friends for ages, old estranged family members, and yet, they all shared the same emotions in the end. SO MOVING TO ME!!! that no matter how distant and alone we may feel, someone else could be feeling the exact same way right now.

I just teared up writing that so I’m going to say it again. you’re never alone. a stranger sitting next to you could be sharing a life experience or emotion with you, and you wouldn’t even know it.

lily king always restores my faith in humanity. thank you for allowing me to see and process your work.

5 stars ;’)