Tangled influences compel a young girl to hide her true nature until one weekend in her mid-20s when the truths she’s been suppressing call her to a crossroads she can’t avoid.
Insulated from societal mores by her glamorous mother and humble father, six-year-old Beatrice—barefoot in ratty overalls—tunes into animals, senses the unspoken, and thrives. But when tragedy penetrates their rural Vermont bubble, Beatrice is thrust into a world that tells her she has no place unless she hides her depth, pretties up, and falls in line. She complies.
Years later in San Francisco, incongruities in Beatrice's life abound. What’s real is hidden. What’s false is celebrated. She numbs and sidesteps and, despite inner warnings, artfully outruns thoughts of her family, the girl she once was, and the woman she pretends to be. But when a cascade of events steers her back to her childhood home, a discovery in a rundown barn quiets her. In the still point, she sees her crossroads: should she carry on the known path or step into uncertainty? Her future rests on her interpretation of change. Anxiety and loss. Or hope and renewal. She must decide who she is.
In beautiful, spare prose, The Wisdom of Winter explores the tenacity of misbeliefs, the magic in forgiveness, and the artistry of the natural world in healing the past.
The Wisdom of Winter, as its title suggests, unfolds in a thoughtful, literary mode, immersing readers in the forests and valleys of Vermont and then Beatrice’s new life in San Francisco, where, from her bedroom, “only one tree is visible, but it sounds as if every bird within a ten-mile radius has just landed on it.” The narrative arc details Beatrice’s growth from child to an adult, from the woods to corporate offices owned by an agoraphobic Marin County multimillionaire, as she experiences love and loss and pressure to fit in, all on the road to truly discovering herself.
Some of the descriptions of nature and its manifestations are truly beautiful, as is the prose, which is sparse and poetic—Seyler never over-embellishes, and she captures the essences of characters in quick, well-observed descriptions. The story can seem meandering, even slow paced, taking its time setting the scene and describing the landscape before getting to the action. But that’s the beauty of the book. It doesn’t hurtle forward, making it ideal for readers who want to savor a moment, consider it, and really reflect. Lovers of literary fiction and strong personal narratives will enjoy this book which is as sparse as it is beautiful.
Takeaway: An often beautiful novel of growing up in nature and finding a way back to what matters.
Great for fans of: Anne Lamott, Jane Hamilton.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: B
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
