Winter Love
Author: Han Suyin
Published by: Fox, Finch & Tepper
Pages: 159
Format: Paperback
My Rating: ★★★
Published by: Fox, Finch & Tepper
Pages: 159
Format: Paperback
My Rating: ★★★
“Whatever has happened, there is always that magic winter haunting and hurting me with its marvellous echoes. The shortest days of the year, when nothing had begun and nothing had ended, all the roads of life were alive, and time beat round me like a heart.”
From the moment Red encounters her charismatic new college classmate, Mara, she is drawn in. Recently married Mara is stylish and colourful and has a glamorous ease that lights up with wintry, Blitz-ridden London. Their new friendship turns quickly into an illicit but exhilarating affair that begins in their London digs and intensifies through strained passionate trips to rural Wiltshire and the Welsh valleys.
From the moment Red encounters her charismatic new college classmate, Mara, she is drawn in. Recently married Mara is stylish and colourful and has a glamorous ease that lights up with wintry, Blitz-ridden London. Their new friendship turns quickly into an illicit but exhilarating affair that begins in their London digs and intensifies through strained passionate trips to rural Wiltshire and the Welsh valleys.
My thoughts:
Read this for January’s book club at Daisy and Bean bakery in Bath. First published in 1962, and taking place in 1944 London, Winter Love is an explosive and unpredictable love story. It is an elegantly written tale of doomed queer love, toxic relationships and self-destruction set in Britain at the end of the Second World War.
The Second World War is coming to an end, but the ground reality in Britain remains stark, affected by food rations, poverty, and decrepit boarding houses.
The protagonist Bettina Jones, known as ‘Red’ by her peers, is a young woman in her early twenties studying at Horsham Science College and struggling to make ends meet. Red was incredibly, incredibly, immature, and frustrating to read from. She was selfish, manipulative, unpredictable and abrupt. Red is our narrator and her account of the short, troubled affair with Mara is a vivid memory from the past, a period forever etched in her memory, something that changed her life forever.
I would have loved to have gotten some narration from Mara's perspective as I thought she was the far more interesting character of the two.
In every aspect, Mara is unlike the other Horsham girls. She stands out by a mile. She is wealthy, dressed in well-cut clothes and exudes an aura of privilege, luxury, and comfort. Mara confesses her love for Red first, and from then on, we see them grow closer, with their significantly differing personalities and circumstances playing a crucial role in disrupting their relationship.
Winter Love, in many ways, is a character study of both Red and Mara. This is a short and enjoyable read that left me feeling sad but also a little underwhelmed. I went into this one expecting something similar to Patricia Highsmith’s Carol, but instead I think I view Winter Love as the type of unromantic love story that will appeal more to fans of Giovanni's Room and Madame Bovary.
Overall reaction:
Read this for January’s book club at Daisy and Bean bakery in Bath. First published in 1962, and taking place in 1944 London, Winter Love is an explosive and unpredictable love story. It is an elegantly written tale of doomed queer love, toxic relationships and self-destruction set in Britain at the end of the Second World War.
The Second World War is coming to an end, but the ground reality in Britain remains stark, affected by food rations, poverty, and decrepit boarding houses.
The protagonist Bettina Jones, known as ‘Red’ by her peers, is a young woman in her early twenties studying at Horsham Science College and struggling to make ends meet. Red was incredibly, incredibly, immature, and frustrating to read from. She was selfish, manipulative, unpredictable and abrupt. Red is our narrator and her account of the short, troubled affair with Mara is a vivid memory from the past, a period forever etched in her memory, something that changed her life forever.
I would have loved to have gotten some narration from Mara's perspective as I thought she was the far more interesting character of the two.
In every aspect, Mara is unlike the other Horsham girls. She stands out by a mile. She is wealthy, dressed in well-cut clothes and exudes an aura of privilege, luxury, and comfort. Mara confesses her love for Red first, and from then on, we see them grow closer, with their significantly differing personalities and circumstances playing a crucial role in disrupting their relationship.
Winter Love, in many ways, is a character study of both Red and Mara. This is a short and enjoyable read that left me feeling sad but also a little underwhelmed. I went into this one expecting something similar to Patricia Highsmith’s Carol, but instead I think I view Winter Love as the type of unromantic love story that will appeal more to fans of Giovanni's Room and Madame Bovary.
Overall reaction:
