The Winter People

The Winter People was my All Hallows Read gift this year, but I decided to save it to read in colder weather. And I'm so glad I did. Something about being surrounded by a fresh blanket of snow made this book a lot more affecting. Freezing weather and fresh snow make outdoor activities so much harder, and being attuned to that added an extra layer of tension to this book.

The story alternates between 1908 and the present day. In the past, Sara Harrison Shea and her husband lose their young daughter. But Sara knows a spell to bring her back to life, at least for a few days. And when she decides to do just that, the consequences are beyond what she could have imagined. In the present day, Ruthie's mom has gone missing, and Ruthie suddenly finds herself responsible for her younger sister while searching for her mom and accidentally digging up some family secrets that ought to have stayed buried.

This was a delightfully creepy story about grief and consequences. It got tighter and tighter towards the end, and I had a hard time putting it down. I just had to know what happened next, what this revelation implied in the other timeline, who would ultimately survive and who wouldn't. It was a great read for a dark, wintry January week.

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