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.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! If you have a fondness for anthologies, I think this one is a good choice to read! If you have a fondness for winter, again I think this will be a good choice to read! I find that my favorite season is always the current one, and so I think I would've liked this better in a few months. That being said, I really think all of these wintry pieces of writing will create a cozy ambiance for reading on a chilly winter evening. I feel like the best experience wouldn't be reading this whole book in one sitting, but rather choosing a couple of pieces to enjoy as the mood strikes you. Not all of the choices included were my favorite personally, but I think every piece works for the theme pretty well!

This is a beautiful compilation of stories, some of them from current authors (Daisy Hildyard) but most from authors who works are now available in the public domain. They are thematic, and all in all, gorgeous. I found myself reading and re-reading them, trying to select the ones that I thought would be best to read my family this winter.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has a love of nature, who enjoys poems and stories across historical eras, and who wants a book of tales to read by a fire.

I received this free ARC through NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Nature Tales for Winter Nights is the kind of book that you an curl up with by the fire. No part takes too long so it's perfect for reading piece by piece when you want to revel in the season.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this Arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a nice coffee table book of assorted winter-themed stories and poems. It's not something that I'd read cover to cover, but it's nice for picking up when you have a few minutes to read something quickly, and it's easy to find something the right length for whatever amount of time you have available.

Thank you to Elliot & Thompson and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Rating: ★★★/5

As somebody that loves embracing the seasons and that has a somewhat new love for nature writing, this title sung to me on NetGalley. It’s a compilation of works by various authors, all centred around late autumn and winter moments, and I really loved dipping into it on cosy late summer evenings in anticipation of cooler nights.

However, it wasn’t quite what I’d expected: the works are often short stories or, more often, excerpts from fiction with a nature theme. As such, it read a little disjointedly at times and, like I often say, I just don’t think I’m hugely a short stories reader. I prefer sinking into longer, slightly meandering and fully formed stories. That being said, this is a very evocative read and absolutely reveals even the smallest of wonders about the season. I also deeply appreciated the variety of narratives: there’s tales from ancient Rome and ancient Japan, there are glorious British fables and Innuit folklore, and it feels very transportive when you manage to get deep into a story.

Nature Tales for Winter Nights publishes on 12 October 2023.

Nature Tales For Winter Nights is a collection of winter stories, snippets, essays, poems and paragraphs all with a wintry feel. It is a book for curling up with as the dark nights draw in. As with most compilations I enjoyed some of the entries and skipped over others that did not resonate with me. It is the perfect way to feel the joys of winter without getting cold. A lovely gift or coffee table book

I agree with a previous reviewer that Nature Tales for Winter Nights by Nancy Campbell wasn't quite what I was expecting. I thought it would be more a mix of memoir and essay by Campbell but this is more a compilation or anthology piece. Also agree it's probably a better read as a physical book rather than an ebook.

I received a free copy of, Nature Tales For Winter Nights,by Nancy Campbell, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Winter is coming and this is a good book to curl up with on a cold winters night, great stories of winter and nature abound.

2.5 rounded up.

This is not quite what I had expected, I thought I would be getting essays written about nature during the winter; whilst there was some of that, what I actually for was a lot more snippets from fiction with a natural theme, (think the frost fair scene from Orlando). As always with these sort of books, some entries were more successful than others, but on the whole, it felt rather fleeting and incomplete. I did enjoy the Innuit folk takes and the entry about starling murmerations on the Somerset levels, something I go to watch myself from time to time, and it is spectacular, but I did find myself skimming more than usual.

I think this would make a nice gift as a physical book, it looks beautiful, and you can flick through and read whatever takes your fancy, something a bit harder to do with an ebook. Also, it would benefit from a much slower read.

*Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a review copy in exchange for an honest opinion.*

"From the author of Fifty Words for Snow comes a treasure trove of nature tales from storytellers across the globe, bringing a little magic and wonder to every winter night.

As the evenings draw in - a time of reckoning, rest and restoration - immerse yourself in this new seasonal anthology. Nature Tales for Winter Nights puts winter - rural, wild and urban - under the microscope and reveals its wonder.

From the late days of autumn, through deepest cold, and towards the bright hope of spring, here is a collection of familiar names and dazzling new discoveries.

Join the naturalist Linnæus travelling on horseback in Lapland, witness frost fairs on the Thames and witch-hazel harvesting in Connecticut, experience Alpine adventure, polar bird myths and courtship in the snow in classical Japan and ancient Rome. Observations from Beth Chatto's garden and Tove Jansson's childhood join company with artists' private letters, lines from Anne Frank's diary and fireside stories told by indigenous voices.

A hibernation companion, this book will transport you across time and country this winter."

I want to hibernate with this book but also visit a frost fair!

I'm generally not a fan of short story collections as they are invariably hit or miss, and I found that to be the case here as well. There are some really compelling themes and settings but it does feel disjointed as we have stories from all over the world, various time periods, diverse formats including letters and diary entries, etc.

Nature Tales For Winter Night is an enchanting little book that would make a lovely gift. It's equal parts cozy and wild, the prefect compilation to pick away at as the nights get shorter and the air begins to have a bite.

I loved the title of this book! Unfortunately, the title may have raised my expectations too high. I was expecting a lot of natural history and info about wildlife in winter, but it seemed most of the pieces had more to do with people. There were certainly pieces I enjoyed by writers such as Whitman, Teale, and Cooper, but I found I was doing more skimming than reading.

I'll give it a 3, which may be generous for my own reaction, but others might like it more than I did, and any book related to nature deserves some credit in these days when most people do their best to ignore it.

Thanks to Elliott & Thompson and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy for review.

I requested this book because I also loved the cover and the title. However, the old adage is true, don't judge a book by its cover. You also shouldn't judge a book if you only went halfway, but I could go no further. I forced myself to go that far. There was not one entry I enjoyed to that point. I did not even look back at the index to see if something perhaps further along might interest me. I thank NetGalley and Elliot and Thompson.

This is an edited piece, a compilation of different authors works all about nature and the seasons. It’s getting quite autumnal in Stockholm at the moment so reading this on the metro to work this morning was quite nice. I feel like this is the kind of book you’d get and place on a stand somewhere visible because the cover is very lovely.