Cover of The Land in Winter

The Land in Winter

by Andrew Miller

2025 · historical fiction · adult

Set in 2 places · 1 primary
Sense of Place
5/5
Description · Open Library (CC0)

Eric and Irene and Bill and Rita. Two young couples living next to each other, the first in a beautiful cottage - suitable for a newly appointed local doctor - the second in a rundown, perennially under-heated farm. Despite their apparent differences, the two women (both pregnant) strike an easy friendship - a connection that comes as a respite from the surprising tediousness of married life, with its unfulfilled expectations, growing resentments and the ghosts of a recent past. But as one of the coldest winters on record grips England in a never-ending frost and as the country is enveloped in a thick, soft, unmoving layer of snow, the two couples find themselves cut off from the rest of the world. And without the small distractions of everyday existence, suddenly old tensions and shocking new discoveries threaten to change the course of their lives forever.

Set in

  • Somerset · United Kingdom
    the frozen West Country winter
    ★ primary
  • Bristol · United Kingdom
    where Rita danced at a club

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