An anthology curated from diverse and delightful sources, Nature Tales for Winter Nights was an honest and steady perspective on the secret and stark beauty of our winter months.
I found the format a bit difficult to tell if the author and name were for the work previous or upcoming, and the first story a bit of a slog to start it off. But I enjoyed the variety, and especially the Snow Mountain story. Cheers!

A wonderful Book of stories from Linnaeus riding in Lapland , to Beth Chatto's Garden & her observation's, Charles Darwen on HMS Beagle,& Grahame Green's Wild Wood in Wind in the Willows, the book tells a rich tapestry of Nature in all her Winter Glory during the Dark Cold months when most of us just want to be curled up in the warmth of our homes. #NetGalley, #Goodreads,#Amazon.co.uk, #FB, #Instagram, # <img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/8a5b541512e66ae64954bdaab137035a5b2a89d2" width="80" height="80" alt="200 Book Reviews" title="200 Book Reviews"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>..

This book would be an ideal coffee table addition from November to March. During the season of nights drawing in early, fires in the hearth, and a little more time for reflection, the diverse pieces in this collection are ideal to dive into. Nancy Campbell has gathered a wide variety of writers touching on winter in the pieces she's chosen. There's everything from Anne Frank, whose writing opens the collection, through to fiction writers like Kenneth Grahame and continuing on to excerpts from the Quran.

Campbell's opening essay was the strongest piece in the book for me. She finds herself facing a winter in a not-quite-ready-for-the-cold camper, when she is offered the opportunity to take part in a writer's retreat -with housing, in a castle. She gets the chance to genuinely "retreat" into the cold season, to hibernate, and turn inward. That time, spent alone or in company with other writers as she chose, is what led her to put this collection of writing together.

The book is beautiful. The pieces are mostly short - 1-3 pages. There's a variety of genres - poetry, fiction, folk tale. In my opinion, it's designed as what I would call a "charcuterie book". Graze, pick and choose, read what calls you at any given moment. Curl up, watch the snow outside, and read about the way characters over time have grappled with winter.

Thanks to NetGalley and Elliott and Thompson for the e-arc to review.

I loved the idea of this book: a collection of essays or short bits of text about nature in winter.

For some reason, it just didn't quite live up to my expectations. Mostly, I think, because you need to set aside time to read this book. It's not one to read in one setting, but rather one you savour for longer, reading one text at a time. This is both a weakness and a strength in my opinion.

I love the Anne Frank except, because I knew the context of it, whereas I felt I lacked context for some of the other texts chosen. I know who Walt Whitman was, but not enough to read more into the text than was there on the page. So it probably helps, if you are well versed in literature.

Nature Tales for Winter Nights is a beautiful collection of short stories about winter. This compilation of writings would make a wonderful Christmas gift!

This is a collection, often just snippets, of writings on winter, both specifically and in the abstract. Definitely a book not to be read as a whole, in just a few sittings, but to be read as it has been put together, in snippets, often meditating & contemplating what was written. Not a book for everyone, but definitely some interesting insights and thoughts.
I received an ARC copy of the book from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and of course the author for gifting me this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved the book last year - The Haunting Season, and this one qually did not disappoint. Full of lots of short stories that gave me all the feels - I will definitely be re-reading each year.

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from this book. Themed anthologies are a bit like Janus: they can alternately be little masterpieces or hastily put together duds, depending on the skill of the editor. Well - in this case, I'd say the collection leans decidedly towards the former definition.

To my personal taste, I might have preferred a little less narrative in favor of more space for other literary genres. The poems included are so beautiful that I would certainly have enjoyed a broader selection - and I would have a larger number of historical sources describing winters of the past. They are not entirely absent, but let's say that the narrative is the absolute protagonist of this collection - after all, the title itself speaks of "tales".

I would define it as an excellent Christmas gift, packed with lesser-known texts (keep in mind that all the stories focus on the manifestations of winter in nature: it's not the typical Christmas anthology). The editor intervenes subtly, not to overshadow the stories she gathers, but when she does, her touch is wonderfully incisive: "A Latin lockdown" is a sweet and unforgettable way to refer to the pastoral loves of Daphnis and Chloe (3rd century AD), with two young lovers kept apart for months by a heavy snowfall.

I was drawn to this book by the beautiful front cover which made me think of cosy evenings sat by the fire reading some lovely nature stories. The book itself did not live up to this premise at times. Some of the stories were lovely,
I especially liked The Iceberg by Tove Jansson and the Inuit tales. Others like The Wild Wood by Kenneth Grahame were old favourites. There are short stories and longer ones, some only a paragraph and others that read like essays. There is something in here or most people to enjoy but I got the feeling that there could have been so much more. I am grateful for the chance to read this book but it did not satisfy me as much as I hoped it would.

Enjoyed this collection once I got into it. I did think the introduction threw me off and didn’t quite set the scene or tone for the rest of the collection, I did enjoy the theme and variety of content, some beautiful and interesting stories and memories from a wide collection of people. I also really enjoyed reading the history and background of the chosen authors/people and helped with context and learnt some new things.

The premise of this book is initially what compelled me to read it, alongside the beautiful front cover! There is something magical and atmospheric about reading seasonal writings as the world outside shifts and changes to mirror what is on the page. Nancy Campbell states that the main motivation for this compilation of winter writings was to ‘use this precious time of interiority to look outwards. I wanted to nestle into the words of others.’ This is what the book allows you to do, although there are moments that are far from relaxing or snug. You are amidst the winter season in all its stark beauty and ferocity. There are some stories that were familiar and that I had encountered before, which, rather than being disappointing, was interesting and intriguing. It allowed me to see the stories in a new light when placed in this particular context and in juxtaposition with other stories around it. As Campbell writes, ‘to re-read is a discovery of self as well as story, rather like the return of the seasons when our own lives have changed.’ There are things that are familiar but also things that are irrevocably changed as we change as readers.
There are moments that take your breath away, like the very opening text by Anne Frank, to moments that are unnerving and linger long after you read them. Charlotte Bronte’s ‘A Shadow’ left more questions than it answered, a truly haunting text. Whilst all the time you are accompanied by the beauty and starkness of the outdoors in winter. It can be a time of excitement and anticipation for the new year but also a time of anxiousness and discomfort. There are explorations of how things take on unsettling and unfamiliar aspects in once comforting settings like the description of the beloved pear tree, a ‘skeleton, grey, gaunt and stripped,’ in Daisy Hildyard’s ‘A Winter Day on the Sea Beach.’ Alongside recoiling at the prospect of changed worlds, we are reminded of how much we depend on the landscape such as in Daniel Defoe’s ‘The Rainy Season’ and how ancient landscapes are, steeped in myth and folklore like the Inuit folktales about the raven.
This did not feel like a set of texts that could be consumed easily in one sitting. You move across time and countries with pace which can feel a little disorientating. Text types and length vary which required focus and concentration from me, a different type of reading experience rather than getting lost in the comfort of a longer fictional novel. It is a book that can be revisited each year and I suspect it will have something new to offer each time.

Thank you to NetGalley for my arc.

It was a really cute book , i expected more like a story that a collection of a essays, but i enjoyed reading. It collection of short stories , to poems to non -fiction works. The cover of the book is very wintry and beautiful. Nature Tales of Winter is a book you can curl up on your couch and enjoying on winter evenings.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

Collated by Nancy Campbell, this beautiful anthology contains a wide variety of excerpts befitting the wintery theme. I was drawn to this one firstly by the gorgeous cover art by Helen Musselwhite - here's hoping I see her work on many more book covers in future!

The extracts in this collection range from short stories, to poems, to non-fiction works, and cover a long time period, containing pieces over 1000 years old up until the present day. There are many contributors for a book of just over 200 pages, as most of the excerpts are very short. I really loved the representation covered: there was inclusion of many cultures, nationalities, and social classes, and many works written by women.

My favourite was Snow Mountains Everywhere: an extract from The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon, about shenanigans at the imperial court of Kyoto during the turn of the first millennium. I loved getting an insight of the everyday lives and gossip of people who lived a thousand years in the past! 

Other works that stood out to me were:
- The Iceberg
- A Shadow
- A Certain Blueness About the Lips
- Notes on a Landscape
- Innuit Folktales: the raven and the goose, when the ravens could speak, and the raven who wanted a wife
- Berries
- Sea Storm
- A letter from the Netherlands
- The Message
- Into Spain and Back Again
- A Murmuration
- Encounter on the Road of Hercules: Alpes Maritimes
- Shelter in a Snow Drift
- Sheep in Winter
- A Meteor Shower

A few of the pieces were a little dry to read, written in an expository style. Personally, I prefer even non-fiction, if it is memoir or journal entry, to include more description of the authors' emotions rather than purely a log of events, but I think this style is probably a reflection of the time period in which they were written.

This book lends itself better to a physical version rather than an ebook - it's the sort of thing that can be easily picked up when you have only a spare 5 minutes to read, as the stories are very short. I also had a few formatting issues on the kindle version but I'm sure they'll be ironed out before final release.

Overall an enjoyable collection that's bound to have something for everyone - I think it'd make a lovely Christmas present too!

Thank you to Nancy Campbell, Elliott and Thompson, and Netgalley for this ARC

Thanks to the publisher Elliott & Thompson and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest book review.

A varied anthology of prose focusing on lives entwined with the natural world, with a special focus on icy wintry conditions.

The varied extracts in this book range from selections from novels such as "Orlando" by Virginia Woolf, "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe, "Wild Animals I Have Known" by Ernest Thompson Seton and the (it would seem almost obligatory) chapter from the wonderful "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Graham (in this case when Mole encounters the Wild Wood in the depths of winter).

For me the more interesting excerpts were the nonfiction ones, and these ranged from transcripts of Innuit oral histories (something that I had never come across before); diary extracts from the likes of Susan Fenimore Cooper, Matthew Henson (who participated in the 1908-9 exhibition to the Geographic North Pole), Carl Linnaeus, Henry David Thoreau and Dorothy Wordsworth. The most moving diary entry was the one written by Salomon Andree, a Swedish aeronaut and polar explorer, who died while attempting to reach the Geographic North Pole by hydrogen balloon in 1897. The entry that makes up the extract 'Relic of an Exhibition' was found on a piece of paper tucked into his breast pocket of his coat on his dead body.

In terms of memoir the highlights for me were taken from "Kolyma Tales" by Varlam Shalamov remembering the fatal consequences of going outside of the boundary of the gulag whilst a prisoner foraged for some berries for sustenance and the extract from "Climbing Days" by Dorothy Pilley the pioneering mountaineer who formed The Pinnacle Club (the first women’s rock climbing club in 1921) which describes the hard climb of the Col de Boucharou. There is also a fantastic piece of nature writing by Tim Dee describing in detail the beautiful murmuration of starlings. These are all authors that I plan on exploring in more detail.

As is always the case with an anthology, some pieces I enjoyed far more than others with some not holding any personal appeal for me. It is also not a book to be enjoyed as an ebook as it’s not something that particularly suits being read in one go.

Nature Tales for Winter Nights then, whilst by no means life changing, is an enjoyable book to dip in and out of when snuggled up inside on a cold winter’s night. It would particularly suit readers that are interested in the natural world and polar exploration.

I very much enjoyed this book. I received an ARC via Net Galley.

I love winter so was excited by the cover and description. I wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed the description at the start of the book where the author took a retreat at an old castle. Very wintery! All the included poems and short stories were wonderful winter reads.

The only thing I would add is I would've liked more illustrations!

A detailed explanatory introduction prefaces the wintry tales within this eclectic collection of stories. They’re from a mixed variety of voices. Some entries are written as poetry but they’re mostly in prose of varying lengths.

I particularly enjoyed pieces by Charlotte Brontë, Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf Mathilte Sørensen and Susan Fenimore Cooper, plus surprisingly lyrical words from Vincent Van Gogh. It was also good to read extracts from writers I’d never heard of before.

The brutal bleakness of wintry landscapes is vividly depicted. There are evocative descriptions of both flora and fauna. Reading this book as we segued into autumn sent shivers down my spine at the thought of the forthcoming cold and ice.

The overriding theme is one of experiencing winter’s extreme and how people respond to it. I was reminded of the sheer magic and majesty of winter that exists and how wondrous each season can be when we look for the best in it.

I struggled with some of the entries and skipped forward several pages when they lost my interest. Other writers captivated me with their vivid descriptions and intriguing stories. The scattered illustrations throughout were a welcome touch.

This book contains a mixed bag of wintry tales to curl up by the fireside with. Some stories might appeal to you more than others but there is variety enough to selectively enjoy them. Grateful thanks to Elliott & Thompson and NetGalley for the ARC. 3.5**

When I requested this, I've only thought that I am in the mood to read winter tales. With Halloween approaching and yes, winter slowly settling in, it's the perfect time for spooky/wintry stories. But then I've realised it's by the same author as Fifty Words for Snow and I've rejoiced, because I've truly enjoyed that read. How fitting, I've thought to myself, Nancy Campbell must have a deep fascination with winter. And it started well too, the first few fragments set the mood very nicely and I was loving the fact that they were from all over the world, not only set in other parts of the globe, but by authors from other countries too. But unfortunately after the first 1/3 it took a turn for the worse, with me being baffled by the inclusion of some of the stories. I've slowly started to lose interest and rather forced myself to finish it, instead of actually looking forward to reading it. Such a shame...

I enjoyed this book but having read it in e-book format I do think buying the physical text is the way to go. A lovely book to dip in and out of when your in the mood to cozy up on the sofa with a cup of tea, in front of the fire. I don't think the e-book format did it justice. Some beautifully immersive passages that really make you feel wrapped in the beauty of the season.

This is a good anthology to read a little bit at a time. I enjoyed some more than others, but most of them made me feel warm and cozy.
A lovely anthology for winter days curled up with a book.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.

Prepare yourself firstly for a long list of contributors. Some are modern authors, some historical, and some from entire books themselves:

Anne Frank, Sei Shōnagon, Olaus Magnus, Daisy Hildyard, Charlotte Brontë, Walt Whitman, Joy Harjo, Virginia Woolf, Tove Jansson, John Evelyn, Theophilus Kwek, Charles Darwin, Solomon Andrée, Daniel Defoe, Joseph Roth, Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov, Mathilte Sørensen, Damian Le Bas, James Frazier, Marchelle Farrell, Longus, Beth Chatto, Robert Louie Stevenson, Jorsias Ammonsen, Edwin Way Teale, Vincent Van Gogh, Alvin Aubert, Dorothy Pilley, Matthew Henson, Dorothy Wordsworth, Tim Dee, Susan Fenimore Cooper, Charlotte Du Cann, Ernest Thompson Seton, John Clare, Henry Davis Thoreau, John Rae, Carl Linnœus, William Scoresby Junior, Kenneth Grahame, Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, Sarah Thomas, The Quran, The Exeter Book, and Inuit Folktales.

Now, time for the review.

I thought this book would be right up my street. It felt all wintery and cosy and fabulous.

However, it wasn't quite what I was expecting. I was expecting essays by writers about the winter, but it isn't. It's an anthology of pre-existing writings from across thousands of years that just so happen to mention nature during the winter.

At 272 pages, I assumed it would consist of maybe a dozen different stories. But as you can see from the long list above, there are a lot more than a dozen. Some are several pages long, others 1 or 2 pages, and some even just a paragraph. These are very short stories, which gives allowances to more contributors, which was nice.

It's not all positive about nature in the winter. There's tales of fun in the winter, of play, the excitement of the cold and snow and frost and promises they bring. But is also talks about the danger that the winter brings, about how much harm it can do to nature, to animals, and to our most vulnerable. It shows that you must always remember that nature will always win and we must respect it at all times of the year. Some tales are fiction, some non-fiction, poetry, religious, some modern, and some ancient.

It is good and I enjoyed it, but it's a bit disjointed. I think it would have been better if the stories flowed into each other a bit more, but they're quite random and so difficult to read more than 1 or 2 in one go, whereas I like to read through a book, but it was difficult to do so. But a beautiful book that I think would look lovely in physical form.