“This is what it means to age, I think. The days are long, but the years are short.”
When the snow starts to fall and the chill settles in, there’s no better time to grab a blanket, make a hot drink and dive into a story that perfectly matches the season outside. Winter-themed books have a way of capturing the magic and mystery of this time of year, whether it’s through frosty landscapes, heartwarming tales or gripping adventures set against snowy backdrops. Here at What We Reading, we’re bringing you some of our favourite winter-themed novels that are perfect for cosying up with during the colder months. From atmospheric mysteries and epic fantasies, these stories whisk you to wintry worlds and keep you turning the pages as the nights grow longer. Whether it’s feeling the festive spirit or escaping into a frosty adventure without leaving the warmth of your home, lose yourself in these tales of icy intrigue and snow-covered backdrops with these winter-themed books!
The Fox Wife – Yangsze Choo
First up on our list of winter-themed books is Yangseze Choo’s The Fox Wife. Set in Manchuria during the final days of the Qing Empire, the story opens with the discovery of a dead courtesan, frozen in a doorway. Rumours swirl about foxes, which are believed to lure individuals by transforming themselves into beautiful women and handsome men. Bao is the detective tasked with uncovering the dead woman’s identity. Since childhood, Bao has been fascinated with the mystery of the fox gods.
Elsewhere, a family who owns a famous Chinese medicine shop are able to cure all known ailments, but is unable to escape the curse that plagues their home – each of their eldest sons dies before their twenty-fourth birthday. When an enigmatic new servant named Snow enters their lives, their luck finally begins to turn. Soon, both Bao and Snow find themselves encountering old friends and new foes as their lives intersect in the shadow of a murderer and the lost legends of the fox spirits.
Just Do This One Thing For Me – Laura Zimmerman
Drew’s mother says: ‘just do this one thing for me’ more times than she says good morning. Heidi Hill has been leaping from shady side hustle to shady side hustle for all of Drew’s seventeen years on Earth. Drew knows by now that ‘one thing’ normally means taking care of all the things her mother finds too tedious, including looking after her fifteen-year-old sister and eight-year-old brother.
But, when their mother disappears on the way to a New Year’s Eve concert in Mexico and all her schemes begin to unravel, Drew is confronted with an impossible choice: follow the rules and walk away from her mother’s mess. Or pray the weather stays cold, keep the cons going and do all she can to keep her family together.
Beartown (Beartown #1) – Fredrik Backman
People claim that Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is gradually losing ground to the ever-encroaching trees. But, down by the lake, there is an old ice rink constructed by the working men responsible for the town’s founding. That very ice rink is responsible for why the inhabitants of Beartown believe tomorrow will always be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, meaning that all the hopes and dreams of this small town now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.
Such pressure soon acts as the spark for a violent act that leaves a local girl traumatised and the entire town in turmoil. Accusations are made and gossip spreads like wildfire, engulfing all the residents. One of the most poignant winter-themed books, Fredrik Backman’s Beartown explores the hopes that bring communities together, the secrets that rip them apart and the courage needed to go against the grain.
The Wood At Midwinter – Susanna Clarke
Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scott is a strange girl. She is able to talk to animals and trees and is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods. One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis happens upon a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a stranger figure emerges in their midst, changing the direction of her life forever.
The Wood at Midwinter is an enchanting winter-themed short fantasy story by Susanna Clarke, the internationally bestselling author of Piranesi. Featuring beautiful illustrations by Victoria Sawdon, it is a mesmerising must-read for anyone looking for a quick cosy novel over the cold months.
Spinning Silver – Naomi Novik
Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s inability to collect his debts has left the family teetering on the verge of poverty – until Mireym takes matters into her own hands. The young woman sets out to take back what is owed, gaining an infamous reputation for being able to turn silver into gold in the process.
When an ill-advised boast catches the attention of the King of the Staryk – fey creatures who appear more ice than flesh – Mireym finds herself caught in a web that soon jostles the fate of herself, a peasant girl named Wanda and the fates of two kingdoms. An imaginative retelling of Rumplestilskin and one of the best YA winter-themed fantasy novels, Naomi Noviks’s Spinning Silver follows Miryem and her allies as they are dragged to the limits of sacrifice, power and love.
Check Out These Cosy Winter Reads To Curl Up With
Only One Survives – Hannah Mary McKinnon
All drummer Vienna Taylor ever wanted to do was to make music. If that brought her fame and fortune, she would take it – provided her guitar-playing best friend, Madison Pierce, was by her side sharing in the spotlight. And with their new all-female pop-rock band finally gaining attention across the music world, it appears their songs are about to reach everyone’s eardrums.
That is until, on the way to an event, the band’s van careers off an icy mountain road during the middle of a fierce blizzard. In the wake of the accident, one member is dead and another is severely injured. To survive the freezing night, the remaining members take shelter in an abandoned cabin nearby. In one of the most gripping winter thriller books, Hannah Mary McKinnon’s Only One Survives follows Vienna as her dreams devolve into a hellish nightmare as, one by one, her fellow band members all meet a gruesome demise.
A Constellation Of Vital Phenomena – Anthony Marra
During the final days of December 2004, in a small rural village nestled in the heart of Chechnya, eight-year-old Havaa hides in the woods when Russian forces kidnap her father. Fearing for her life, she flees with a failed physician named Akhmed to a bombed-out hospital. There, Sonja, the last remaining doctor inside tends to an array of rebels and refugees whilst still mourning her missing sister.
Spanning the next five tumultuous days, Sonja and Akhmed reach back into their pasts to unravel the intricate mysteries of coincidence, betrayal and forgiveness that inexplicably ties them together and will determine their fates in Anthony Marra’s beautifully atmospheric winter-themed debut novel, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena.
Cold – Drew Hayden Taylor
Elmore Trent is a professor of Indigenous studies who finds himself ensnared in an affair that is ruining his marriage. Paul plays in the Indigenous Hockey League, struggling to keep pace with the game he loves. Detective Ruby Birch is chasing a murder investigation whose clues so far led her to both Paul and Elmore. Fabiola Halan is a bestselling author and the famed survivor of a plane crash that fuelled her big book deal.
What begins as a series of subtle connections between isolated characters soon takes a menacing turn in Drew Hayden Taylor’s Cold as it becomes clear that someone – or something – is hunting them all. Borrowing tropes from murder mysteries, police thrillers and traditional horror, Cold is one of the best winter-themed books that offers a propulsive reading experience without ever losing the ability to make you laugh.
The Frozen River – Ariel Lawhon
Set over the course of the winter in 1789 and inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, Ariel Lawhon’s The Frozen River opens with the midwife and healer being summoned to examine the body of a man entombed in ice within the Kennebec River. Martha’s diary serves as a record of every birth, death, crime and scandal that goes on behind closed doors within Hallowell, and was where she documented the alleged assault committed by two of the town’s most upstanding residents – one of whom has just been found in the ice.
When a local physician undermines her conclusions, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own. As the trial approaches, whispers and prejudices mount. Soon, her diary propels her to the centre of the scandal, implicating those who she loves and forcing her to decide, once and for all, where her place in history lies.
Check Out The Best Books Like The Frozen River
Migrations – Charlotte McConaghy
Franny Stone has always been the sort of woman who is capable of loving, but never staying. Leaving everything behind, she arrives in Greenland with a sole mission: following the last Arctic terns in the world on what could be their final migration to Antarctica. Franny talks her way onto a fishing boat, and she and the crew embark on an epic adventure further and further from shore and safety.
But as Franny’s messy history is unearthed, it soon becomes clear that she is chasing far more than just birds. When her past catches up with her, how much is she prepared to risk for one final shot at redemption? Epic, intimate, heartbreaking and empowering, Charlotte McConaghy’s Migrations is one of the best winter-themed books about the enduring power of hope against all odds and is a beautiful homage to a fast-disappearing world.
Breathless – Amy McCulloch
Journalist Cecilia Wong is completely in over her head. She’s found herself at the foot of Manaslu, the eighth-highest peak in the world, to interview the legendary Charles McVeigh, a mountaineer on the final leg of a record-breaking series of summits. She has been forced to give up everything in her life and admit to her own climbing failings in the past but knows that this is the opportunity to get everything back on track in her life.
But, when one fellow climber dies in what everyone else assumes to be a freak, tragic accident, she begins to suspect that the expedition may be in grave danger. By the time a second climber meets an equally grizzly fate, it’s too late to turn back. Stranded on a mountain in one of the most remote and hostile environments in the world, Cecilia is forced to fight more than just the elements in Amy McCulloch’s 2022 winter-themed thriller, Breathless.
Check Out Our Breathless Book Review
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
