Are you looking for a great winter read? Try these winter books to enjoy !
This list was created from Facebook group suggestions and NPP readers. Here are the best books set in winter to enjoy! So get cozy and read on!
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One great thing about the empty nest/midlife season is that we have more time to relax and for me, that means more time to read!
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Here are the best winter books to enjoy in winter! So get cozy and read on!
Best books set in winter in no particular order
These are in no particular order because I have not read them all. They were all recommended by either a good friend, a NPP reader or from one of the Facebook groups that I follow…
Also, there were many others that I did not include on this list. Some reasons were: too grim, bad reviews, or too soppy. If you have a good recommendation for our list, please let us know!
Anna Karenina -Tolstoy
This book has been described by famous writers as “perfect”. I remember having to read if in high school, and loving the drama and tragedy. Set in Russia in the 1700s, a young woman defies societal norms by leaving a loveless marriage -very frowned upon in those days! She falls in love with another man, and it is doomed from the start…
Dead of Winter -Coates
This is not a love story. It is a suspenseful, scary story about survival. If you want to read a great thriller set in the dead of winter, this one is for you!
Dawn’s Prelude: Song of Alaska -Peterson
This book is the first in a trilogy. Newly widowed, and relieved to escape an unhappy marriage, Lydia forges a new relationship, while at the same time tries to avoid her grown stepchildren who would like the inheritance she received which they feel they have the right to. Throw in an unexpected pregnancy from her dead husband, and you have a great story.
The Bronze Horseman -Simons
This series has been compared to The Thornbirds!
I read this years ago and got swept up in in romance of Tatiana and Alexander. Set in Russia just before Hitler and his army attack, this story includes romance, family, tragedy, war, and so much more! It is part of a trilogy, and I loved all three books. Book 2 –Tatiana and Alexander Book 3 –The Summer Garden
In the Midst of Winter -Allende
I love Allende’s books, always so thoughtfully written. This one is beautiful.
A blizzard, a car crash, an immigrant, two professors…
A Cold Day for Murder -Stabenow
This was a NPP reader rec! She loves this series -there are 23 books in this series! I love a good series, and cannot wait to try this. Kate Shugak, is an Aleut private investigator standing at just 5′1“, owns a half wolf, half husky, and is known to be a relentless tracker in the Alaskan wilderness.
The Frozen River -Lawhon
I listened to this one last summer, and it is sooooo good!
Martha is a midwife in the late 1700s in Maine. Her character is based on the true facts set out in the actual diary of this woman who lived long ago. There are all the elements of a great mystery in this one. Suspense, treachery, love, family, and the amazing work ethic of an incredible woman.
It is based on Martha’s well-kept diary 1785-1912, covered in this book –A Midwive’s Tale, which is the actual diary, plus much historical information from those days. I also listened to this right after The Frozen River and it filled in so many details, and really gave a wonderful picture of this amazing woman!
Toward the Midnight Sun -Dempsey
1897. Alaskan gold rush. A promise of marriage. Old friends. Brutal winter. Who will she choose? The rich guy or the one she loves?
Winter Garden -Hannah
It’s been a long time since I read this, and I think from reading the synopsis, that I would like to read it again. I remember really liking it, but don’t remember the details.
It’s about two sisters, and their complicated relationship with their mother. After the death of their beloved father, some truths come out which explain why things are so complicated. The story of their mother’s past provides the missing details that explain so much.
Eliza Waite -Sweeney
I enjoyed this one! Set in the times of the great Alaskan gold rush, a young widow sets out to make in it the rough Alaska frontier. Lots of fun and entertaining characters.
The Prospectors -Djanikian
The Winter Cottage -Lucas
A winter’s love story set in the Scottish Highlands. Book 1 in a seven book series.
Tisha -Specht
I read this one years ago when I was majoring in education at college. I remember loving this book!
A Week in Winter -Binchy
If you have never read a book by Maeve Binchy, you are in for a treat!
She writes the best books, and this is a winner! She weaves humor and realism into her writing, and I love every one of her books! She always has a wide array of interesting characters, and their back stories are fun to learn. This book was a treat when I read it a few years back.
Winter Journey -Armstrong
This’ winter journey’ centers around an Australian forensic dentist who travels to Poland to look into an event that happened in 1941. (The event actually happened.) In her travels, she uncovers her mother’s secret, and runs into a small village with a large secret.
If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska -Lende
Heather Lende is a columnist for the local paper in a tiny, inaccessible town way up north. You will meet her family and all the eccentric characters around town that make up life in Haines, Alaska. Her narrative is humorous and poignant all at the same time.
Winter Journey -Colegate
This “winter journey” is the story about a bachelor brother, Albert, who is estranged from his sister. Both in their late 50s, Edith confronts her brother, and is determined to change their relationship, as well as the trajectory of his life. At times funny, at others poignant. I really like this one.
The Alaskan Laundry -Jones
A young woman who has recently lost her mother and is struggling with her relationship with her father, heads to a tiny town in Alaska to start over. She has a background as a boxer, so she knows what hard work looks like. “This one was an unexpected pleasure to read,” according to a NPP reader of ours.
To The Bright Edge of The World -Ivey
Set in Alaska in 1885, a married couple is separate. The husband on an expedition to discover the wilds of the country, and his wife is left at home for the winter. Told in a few different voices, the stories are at once mundane, desperate, fairy-tale-like, and so interesting to read. Each character grows and learns much about the land around them and their own selves.
Alaska -Michener
Michener’s books are beasts. But, I have enjoyed every one of them. This is on my TBR list. If you have never read his works, know that once you can get through the geographic beginnings, the story will capture you, as he weaves in the natural surroundings to create stories of the animals and people of the region. Often a cave or mountaintop almost become a character within the main stories!
Moon of the Crusted Snow -Rice
This is a post-apocalyptic tale of friendship, survival, and hope.
Doctor Zhivago -Pasternak
This is a classic! It’s long, but on a snowy winter weekend, what is better than a long love story set in russia long, long ago…
The Great Alone -Hannah
If you love Kristen Hannah books, this is a bit different. It’s the story of a mother and daughter how find themselves trying to survive the man in their life. Set in the 1970s, in a small cabin, in a long winter.
Ordinary Wolves -Kantner
A NPP reader recommended this one. It’s a coming of age book about a white boy who has been raised with Inuit ways of the Inuit. He and his siblings are different that the people around them, and they are in many ways innocent to the ways of the world. It begins when Canuk, the main character, is 5, and ends when he is a young man.
The Ice Swan -Ciesielski
A marriage borne of necessity. A young Scottish surgeon and a Russian princess who has escaped her country and the Bolsheviks by running to Paris. Once married, they find out that Paris is also not safe. Their love starts to grow as they flee to Scotland from the Bolsheviks who found them.
Open Carry -Cameron
The first book in a series of 8. Arliss is a US Marshall assigned to find 3 people who have disappeared on Prince of Wales Island. He is a good tracker, but this region is unfamiliar to him. Lots of good reviews on this one!
The Winter Guest -Jenoff
Twin sisters try to survive war torn Poland during WW2. One of them finds a fallen American paratrooper, who is Jewish. As she helps him to survive, events unfold such as a forbidden love, a jealous sister, plans to help everyone escape, and finally betrayal.
I love Jenoff’s books, she writes a lot about WW@. Here is another of hers, The Woman with the Blue Star which was based on a true story.
A Boy in Winter -Seiffert
Wow! This one really got to me. Set in 1941 Ukraine, and it’s the intersection of a few memorable characters all deeply impacted by the German invasion that has just happened. Yankel is a young boy who is the center of this heart wrenching story.
Winter Solstice -Pilcher
Five strangers are brought together one winter in an old Scottish inn with interesting results. I love her books!
The Winter People -McMahon
Two different times. Missing mothers. Same town. Will history repeat itself? What happened to the mother from long ago who was found dead months after the death of her daughter? And where is Ruthie’s mother now? Is there a connection?
Disappearing Earth -Phillips
This book covers the year after two young girls disappear from a northern beach. There are many womens’ lives that intersect through the story that are connected to the disappearance in various ways. Where are the girls? What happened to them? Who took them?
This story is told about the arrival of a young girl who will eventually become Catherine the Great. Another young girl on the scene is Barbara, who is a servant trained to do many things, but the relationship these two girls form determines the fate of each of them. This is historical fiction at it’s finest. There is a sequel to this book.
A Quiet Life -Joella
I recently listened to this one. There are three main characters whose stories are interwoven and continue to intersect with one another. It’s a very peaceful and poignant book about three people who have all lost something, or someone, important to them.
The Snow Child -Ivey
Migrations -McConaghy
Our community has a yearly One Read, and this book was chosen. I read it, and found this book to be so compelling in many ways. The main character, Franny, is flawed in many ways, but that made her so real. She has a past that is slowly uncovered through her travels chasing what may be some terns’ final migration south.
It is set in the not-so-distant future where many species are beginning to disappear, which makes the story even more poignant. This book pulled me in, and even thought much of it was sad, it also gave me hope somehow.
Snow Falling on Cedars -Guterson
I remember loving this book back in the day. There is a murder, a love triangle, and memories from both sides of the confinement of Japanese citizens during WW2.
Best Books Set In Winter To Enjoy: Reading tools
Have you upgraded to a Kindle or Ipad? There are always sales going on, so put one or the other on your wish list! I love a printed book, but I love my Kindle for travel!
What about a travel light for reading in bed and not waking your other person?? This one is rechargeable.
Tiny, fold-up readers that come in a tiny case for your keychain. You can choose the color and the strength.
A reading journal to track your books: progress, books to read, etc. (There is also a free app called Bookmory that does this digitally. I have struggled to keep up with this, but I love the idea of tracking all my book reading.)
And, especially for the Christmas theme, this cookbook recreates recipes from our favorite Christmas movies! I’m excited to order this myself because -fun!
Posts related to Best Books Set In Winter To Enjoy:
9 Best Gadgets for the Midlife Reader
25 Days of a Cozy Christmas In Midlife
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