Winter Books for a Cozy Night

In the early morning dark, Emer McConnell rises for a day of teaching music in the schools of rural Saskatchewan. While she travels the snowy roads in the gathering light, she begins another journey, one of recollection and introspection, and one that, through the course of Jane Urquhart’s brilliant novel, will leave the reader forever changed.

A wild and willful young woman finds herself at the center of a tale of spirits, ancient evils, and the mysterious winter-king Frost — in the lyrical first novel of the Winternight Trilogy. “A beautiful deep-winter story, full of magic and monsters and the sharp edges of growing up” (Naomi Novik, bestselling author of Uprooted).

Seven struggling customers are given the unique opportunity to take home a “blanket cat” … but only for three days, the time it’ll take to change their lives … Each customer is hoping a temporary feline companion will help them escape a certain reality, including a couple struggling with infertility, a middle-aged woman on the run from the police, and two families in very different circumstances simply seeking joy. But like all their kind, the “blanket cats” are mysterious creatures with unknowable agendas, who delight in confounding expectations. And perhaps what their hosts are looking for isn’t really what they need. Three days may not be enough to change a life. But it might just change how you see it.

The author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Snow Child returns to the mythical landscapes of Alaska with an unforgettable dark fairy tale that asks the question: Can love save us from ourselves?

In a small town on the west coast of Ireland, an unlikely cast of characters come together at a newly opened inn. This “delightful [novel] radiates the warmth and charm that fans will recognize and cherish” (USA Today), from the acclaimed author of Circle of Friends.

A gripping novel of two young women fighting for survival on the edge of the wilderness, and the love that simultaneously sustains them and threatens their very existence, from the author of the Good Morning America Book Club pick River Sing Me Home.

A poignant and heart-wrenching coming-of-age story that follows the friendships, hopes, fears, and struggles of a group of Native high school students from Winnipeg, Manitoba’s North End, illuminating what it’s like to grow up in the heart of an Indigenous city. As its richly drawn characters navigate the thrilling independence of adulthood and the loss of innocence that accompanies adolescence, one can’t help but root for this community, even as they wrestle with their place in it.

“Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle … Isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?” Discover the word-of-mouth hit hailed by Ann Patchett as “a cause for celebration” — an intimate novel about the transformative power of the written word and the beauty of slowing down to reconnect with the people we love.

A whimsical and heartwarming novel about a witch who has a second chance to get her magical powers — and her life — back on track, from the national bestselling author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches.

A breathtaking, ineffable new novel from the author of the international bestsellers Fugitive Pieces and The Winter Vault — a story of love and loyalty across generations, at once sweeping and intimate. A novel that spans four generations of connections and consequences that ignite and reignite as the century unfolds. In radiant moments of desire, comprehension, longing, and transcendence, the sparks fly upward, working their transformations decades later. Held is affecting and intensely beautiful, full of mystery, wisdom, and compassion, a novel by a writer at the height of her powers.

Two estranged siblings delve into their mother’s hidden past — and how it all connects to her traditional Caribbean black cake — in this immersive family saga, “a character-driven, multigenerational story that’s meant to be savored” (Time).

At an isolated mountain hot spring, with snow blanketing every surface, Shimamura, a wealthy dilettante meets Komako, a lowly geisha. She gives herself to him fully and without remorse, despite knowing that their passion cannot last and that the affair can have only one outcome. In chronicling the course of this doomed romance, Kawabata has created a story for the ages — a stunning novel dense in implication and exalting in its sadness.

The classic story of the March family, Little Women has been adored for generations. The novel follows the lives of four sisters – tomboyish Jo, beautiful Meg, fragile Beth, and romantic Amy – as they come of age while their father is fighting in the Civil War. Since 1868, readers have rooted for Laurie in his pursuit of Jo’s hand, cried over the family’s tragedy, and dreamed of traveling through Europe with old Aunt March and Amy. In this simple, enthralling tale, Louisa May Alcott has created four of American literature’s most beloved women.

A flock of great blue herons descending through a snowstorm to the streets of New York … A river in Nebraska disappearing mysteriously … A ghostly herd of buffalo that sings a song of death … A mystic who raises constellations of stones from the desert floor … All these are to be found in Winter Count, the exquisite and rapturous collection by the National Book Award-winning author of Arctic Dreams. Combining the real with the wondrous, Lopez offers us a pure vision of people alive to the immediacy and spiritual truth of nature.