Wintering

The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times

by Katherine May

256 pages

English language

Published Dec. 3, 2020 by Penguin Publishing Group.

ISBN:: 978-0-593-18948-1

(4 reviews)

Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a break up, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered.

A moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world, May's story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas.

Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and …

Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.

6 editions

Dee reviewed Wintering by Katherine May

Wintering in a southern summer

5 stars

I picked up this book to read in the southern hemisphere summer. 2022 had been a sh*t of a year from all perspectives - personal, work, wider social and political. I had delivered on a major project in September and rather than taking some time to recover, I toughed it out until Christmas and then came down with shingles. I was attracted to this book as a way of looking at how we stop and take time for ourselves and approach the dark times as a positive experience. May blends personal accounts of winter, with experiences of friends, and good advice. It is written in the style of a memoir, with insights and pieces of wisdom that she has collected interwoven throughout. She recounts having tonsillitis in Iceland, dealing with the realities of parenting, and taking up cold water swimming. The main message I got from this book is the need to be more aware of the seasons in our lives and learn how to enjoy the summers of our lives, while preparing for and fully experiencing the winters. But this is complicated in the colonised south, where we still celebrate the northern holidays but out of season for us. So I end up wintering in high summer, unable to enjoy the long daylight hours and warm temperatures. At least a short period of southerly (cold) wind has made reading this book feel a little more congruent.

Llaverac reviewed Wintering by Katherine May

We have seasons when we flourish, and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.

3 stars

Calling low points in life "wintering" definitely attracted me to this book. I like the cyclical aspect of the metaphor, its opposition with the notion of an eternal summer that we should aspire to even though it's impossible, but after reading this book, I have mixed feelings about it.

On one hand, I highlighted several passages, on the other hand most of the time the author's sensitivity or comparisons did nothing for me. I felt like the book remained a collection of loosely connected autobiographical passages, comparisons with animals like dormice, robins or wolves, and a few interviews of people who went through their own winters. But it never became more than the sum of its parts.

Ian Betteridge reviewed Wintering by Katherine May

Review of 'Wintering' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Brilliant

This is a powerful book about seeing yourself and your life not as linear but as cyclical. It’s not about depression, but if you are feeling dissatisfied with your life, or if you’re going through a tough time it’s a book that I would very much recommend.

tracynicholrose

rated it

April 3, 2021