I love books about folklore and traditions from around the world, so Sarah Clegg’s The Dead of Winter was perfect for me. I’ve slowly making my way through it for a couple of weeks now and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. Winter and holiday lore especially appeals to me and I liked that Clegg’s approach was to center her book around the creatures of Christmas.

Clegg’s takes us with her on her winter travels around Europe and shares this unusual lore. Of course we pay a visit to the Krampus Run in Salzburg but I what I really enjoyed was the lesser known traditions and creatures. From a solstice visit to Stonehenge, to the Mari Lwyd of Wales, to Lucy’s Night in Finland I was enthralled. Clegg takes us throughout the year, beginning with Carnivale and ending with Boxing Day,we visit and learn about all of the wonderful festivals and creatures in between.

I really liked this book. I enjoyed seeing how the ways we now celebrate the holidays often have their roots in old traditions and folklore. And of course I loved meeting all the creatures, a few of which I was unfamiliar. This was a fun nonfiction read and a great way to liven up the usual holiday thriller and romance fare. So if you want to add a little creepiness or dark folklore to your holiday reading, I definitely recommend this one. Educational and fun, who doesn’t want a dark winter tour of Europe and its holiday creatures!

Thank you to @netgalley and @algonquinbooks for an e-arc of this delightful book.

I thought this was a really interesting and intriguing way to share alternate holiday stories that don't fit the typical feel. Very intriguing and a great way to round out the holiday season!

Part travel memoir and part well-researched history of Christmas’s darkest traditions, The Dead of Winter was an interesting and engaging nonfiction read. I appreciated that the author shared firsthand experiences of participating in the contemporary versions of these longstanding traditions, and I learned quite a bit about Christmas’s darker side.

I really enjoyed the characters, setting, folklore and the fascinating traditions of Europe. Broken up into several short stories the author takes you into the darkness with tales of Krampus, witches and other creepy monsters.

This was short little informative read about European horror folklore surrounding Christmas.

It kept me interested and intrigued, and I learned about a few things I had never heard of before.

I started this book on my kindle then switched to the audiobook due to the abundance of footnotes. I think I’d recommend that you pick up a physical copy or listen to the audiobook. The audiobook skipped the footnotes altogether so give them a glance in a sample to see if you feel like you’re missing anything. The audiobook was narrated by Hannah Curtis. This was my first listen by this narrator, and I thought she had a soothing tone and lent a lyrical excitement to this subject of the nonfiction book.

This book takes the reader on a journey through midwinter to explore the lesser-known Christmas traditions from the Lords of Misrule to The Christmas Witches and Krampus. While I enjoyed the creative travel log style narrative, I felt like it sacrificed a bit of the detail that I would have enjoyed about each individual myth. Still, it was a good overview of the myths and legends associated with the Christmas holiday and its precursors for which there is documented evidence. I found all the information to be fascinating and would love to know more.

I think my main issue with the book was its very nature of being an academic book about myths and legends with documentation. I found it strangely lacking in some of the pagan traditions that I’ve heard about through various other means. There’s some interesting information at the end about why a lot of what I had previously found disappointing in the lack of coverage was because of the lack of historical evidence for any of those myths. Not only that but the evidence that other notable collections of tales are perhaps interpreted or molded to fit a narrative rather than true depictions of the actual myths and legends in their practice. However, since the book was prominently centered on historical fact, I would have loved more information about traditions surrounding Christmas and their possible origins.

Recommended to those inquisitive about a general overview of holiday myths and legends and their historical context. I will be looking for more detailed reviews of some of these that I found fascinating.

Thank you to Netgalley, Algonquin Books and Hachette Audio for a copy provided for an honest review.

This one was too short, but still fascinating for anyone who enjoys a little holiday lore on Christmas Eve! But this isn't horror, or dark lore written for the sake of being anti-modernity or counter-Christmas. To understand it as such would be a disservice to pagan origins, timeless traditions, and the historical significance. Clegg writes with first hand experience and curiosity; exploring these dark spaces and unique festivities alongside. In the beginning, festivities were about "overturning the social order" and gender, hierarchy and identities are lost in the celebrations. "Not all Christmas monsters are violent," but unchecked human mischievousness certainly can be. The reeling in of Christmas had less to do with "prudish" churchmen and more to do with public safety. But Clegg explains that the "new" Christmas truly emerged with industrialization, when workers no longer had a week but rather only a day to celebrate.

However, there is a tonal change that some readers might not expect. Parts of it are written almost fictionally, and then it will jump into the historical and academic. It definitely would've gotten a 4 ⭐ from me if the transitions were smoother. It is as if Clegg is attempting to blend a delightful festive anthology with an academic study. Problem is, there is too much to unpack so that the pacing feels rushed. In the end it is a brief glimpse into the complex history of the holiday season in West. There there were missed opportunities to explore Eastern European, French or Iberian traditions, but it is still a fine, enthusiastic introduction!

Rating is 3 1/2 on Instagram!

{3.5 stars}

Thanks to Algonquin Books for the gifted copy. All opinions below are my own.

This was a very interestingly arranged book. The beginning starts off as really atmospheric with a fiction feel, but then it leaves heavily into nonfiction. We get a whirlwind tour through all of the darkness and monsters of holiday season. I think most of us know Krampus, but there are quite a few other dark legends to balance out the lightness of the holiday. I feel like I learned a lot, but could have been more invested if the book had been structured a little differently.

Perfect gift for those that love dark, spooky stories for the holidays. Informative, but in a storytelling, folklore layout. You get to know the author as you read about Krampus and St. Lucy, of different folklore and traditions in Europe. If you want to get cozy with the dark side of the magic of the holidays, this is the book for you.

I featured this book in a new release video prior to publication and was very excited to read this! The tone of this description is unlike any other non-fiction book I've ever read, so exciting! It promises thick atmosphere [rare in this genre] as well as stories within stories. Will update when final review posts, but I'm expecting 5 stars!

Sigh. I wanted to love this book, and I love the project of it, but I didn't click with Clegg's writing. Some of the facts in here were fascinating, and the narrative approach to the writing was clever and should have been quite engaging, but it didn't fully work for me.

Love it. This is the perfect book for people who are sad that Halloween is over and who wish we had a tradition of Christmas ghost stories" like the English do.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC!

I've become an avid reader of nonfiction. I love reading about the ridiculously odd world we live in. Folklore is something I have loved for a long time. Considering how much folklore and pagan religions intertwine - well, it might as well be catnip.

Sarah Clegg's research is very good. Unfortunately, as she tells us herself, many of the modern horror stories we ascribe to ancient, dark pagan traditions are simply false. As human beings, we are frequently drawn to the macabre, and we love a good ghost story in the dark of winter. Over time, this lends itself to quite a bit of over-exaggeration.

While there were plenty of interesting anecdotes in Clegg's book (the bloody spectacle of medieval passion plays was a personal favorite), I wish there was more. Clegg has a pleasant, slightly acerbic sense of humor that shines through, lending levity to some pretty dark source material. Not only am I going to be checking out her other book, but I'm also going to take a look at a longer book that she not only recommends but cites frequently throughout her own writing.

I loved this! It has more content than most seasonal reads, though it still reads quickly and fluidly. This is a great selection for: witchy folks, folklore lovers, Christmas fans, history researchers, monster & creature lovers. I'll definitely recommend it to our customers - it's sure to be a hit with the many folks who love Krampus and spooky playfulness during the holidays. Better research, nuance, and resources than lots of the current pop folklore books. I read it in just a few sessions - I was so hooked!

Thank you to both @NetGalley and @algonquinbooks for the opportunity to pre-read this book, even if I’m a little late to finishing!

The Dead of Winter gives you a brief history of all things spooky that relate to Christmas. This was definitely an interesting read, with lots of information regarding some of the scarier Christmas legends (like Krampus).

My biggest issue with this book was the ebook formatting. It was definitely difficult to read with paragraphs being chopped up oddly, footnotes not really being at the bottom, etc. I think this will be a great read for anyone interested in lore behind Christmas, but I’d suggest getting a physical copy.

The Dead of Winter is a well-researched book about the origins and morphology of winter mythology and folklore that’s separated into sections that make the book entertaining and easy to take in a little bit at a time. Sarah Clegg’s writing is delightful when she’s writing about saints and monsters (and her love of the subject matter is evident throughout the book), but she often comes across as overly sentimental in the prologue, at the close of each section, and in the book’s epilogue. I loved that she kept the length of this book shorter than most books on mythology and folklore tend to be, because subjects like this can get dry easily and this is much more market-friendly.

I’ve always loved folktales and mythology and during college developed a love for learning about how stories morph and migrate. Clegg does an impeccable job of identifying modern stories, breaking them down into parts, and tracing their origins back as far as possible. The material was not only interesting, but fun.

I was provided a copy of this title by the publisher and author via Netgalley. Thanks to Algonquin Books for providing me with a physical ARC of this title. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

The Dead of Winter traces the history of a handful of spookier Christmas traditions, from the Krampus runs to St. Lucy to the various witches associated with Christmas folklore. I appreciated the attention to detail balanced with extremely readable prose. I loved hearing about the eerier myths and folktales around the midwinter season, plus some possible ties to earlier Christian and pagan traditions throughout Europe. I was especially delighted to read an opening chapter that traces the connections between Venice's Carnivale and Christmas revels.

As the author concludes, I agree that the frightful traditions make the light of Christmas season brighter and cozier without feeling too saccharine. This is a really good book for cozying up on a cold winter's night. A great read for fans of folklore, witchy vibes, and seasonal spookiness.

Yule is my favorite holiday and Krampus my favorite folkloric charter, so The Dead of Winter by Sarah Clegg is exactly up my alley. It's so informative and well researched, so if you also love history, witchcraft, and pagan folklore, pick this one up.

I didn't enjoy the footnote style of writing, it's always hard for me to follow that many footnotes and still remain invested in the texts, so I'd personally change up that writing style and include the author's personal notes within the story or not at all.

But even with that, it's a great read heading into the holiday season that gives you a little something different than jolly St. Nick and Rudolph.

I love reading about history and folklore, especially if it’s about a season or a holiday that I love. This book was on my radar wayyyyy before it was published so I had been patiently waiting for a bit.

I enjoyed reading it a lot and learning a bit more about the “old ways,” along with series of traditions and beliefs. With that being said, I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style. It’s a hybrid between memoir and non-fiction —which I love— but I did not like the author’s many asides and opinions sprinkled in as footnotes. Personal opinion: those work better as discussions on the actual text, especially since footnotes take you out of reading and it’s not as impactful, for me. Others may love it though!

As far as the book goes, I loved the breakdown of traditions and the idea of what happened in the old days. It’s always fun to look closely at what we do and believe, especially when it yields some interesting conclusions.

Needless to say, this book has me still thinking about those spooky winter nights near Christmas and the new year where you could have an unsettling visitor at your door.

As an American reader, Krampus and scary yuletide creatures are mostly foreign to me. In Dead of Winter, Sarah Clegg takes us on her winter travels through different European countries to explore the dark and threatening side of the season. In these pages, we go from the English Lord of Misrule, the horsehead-skulled Mari Lwyds in Wales, the judgy Italian witch Befana, and the punishing Germanic horned beast Krampus to the upside-down social order of the Carnival in Venice. As a folklorist, Clegg is good at exploring how these traditions started out and evolved over the centuries.

With Dead of Winter, I was struck by how different the American upbringing compared to European families over the centuries—even though many of us have ancestral ties to Europe. But if you look hard enough, North American children know the threats of bad behavior and coal in their stockings. It’s just subtler, without the parades of nightmarish creatures passing through. After reading Clegg’s book, you’ll understand hidden meanings behind some Christmas TV classics and carols. Perhaps you'll even incorporate some of these traditions, like a Krampus run, into your holiday festivities.

Thank you Algonquin Books for ARC.