Wintering : The power of rest and retreat in difficult times

Published 16/10/2025 | Hardback,
Description:

THE NO. 1 BESTSELLING, LIFE-CHANGING PHENOMENON – SUNDAY TIMES and NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER’Every bit as beautiful and healing as the season itself’ – ELIZABETH GILBERT, bestselling author of Eat, Pray, LoveA stunning new special edition of the enduring modern classicWintering is a comforting meditation on the fallow periods of life, times when we must retreat to care for and repair ourselves. Katherine May thoughtfully shows us how to come through these times with the wisdom of knowing that, like the seasons, our winters and summers are the ebb and flow of life.

A moving personal narrative interwoven 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.

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.

‘A book for the soul’ – CAITLIN MORAN’Absolutely beautiful’ – CHERYL STRAYED