I was pleasantly surprised by this. I liked the depth of each of the stories and could have enjoyed most of them in a longer form. Well worth reading

I don't know if a collection of short stories is the best way to start reading the work of an author, I know that this one was a good way as there's different tones, topics and I was able to appreciate the style of writing and the excellent character development.
I loved the stories and found them emotionally charged.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Five Tuesdays in Winter is one of the first collection of short stories that I’ve read. While I did enjoy King’s writing, I’m not yet entirely sold on short stories over novels.
I appreciated the fact that no two stories felt the same, and all portrayed very different emotions and themes. However, the fact that we have ten stories here with a variety of characters in each meant I often lost of track of who was in what story or just didn’t connect emotionally with them as they were over far too soon for my liking.
While I am still keen to read King’s other work, as I was definitely a fan of her writing style, Five Tuesdays in Winter was slightly underwhelming for me.

Such enjoyable stories and a wonderful introduction to Lily King. Writers & Lovers has been on my TBR for a long time but I'm glad I started with Five Tuesdays in Winter - a delightful read I highly recommend.

A beautiful collection of stories told quietly and tenderly. A couple of stories felt difficult to get into, when they already came to an end. Others had a profound impact on me and I kept thinking about the characters and their stories wanting to read about them even more. I loved the last story, which seemed to stand apart from the rest of the collection, while fitting also perfectly as the last one. Lily King has definitely become one of my favourite authors and this collection just shows how talented she is.

Thank you Pan Macmillan and Picador for my e-copy.

Beautiful stories that all have a heart touching core. The style is beautiful and the story keeps you interested. Some stories seemed to have a strange pacing but were enjoyable nonetheless. This was my first Lily King book and I really want to look into the others. This book isn't groundbreaking collection of stories but a nice and interesting read.

(3.5 stars)

As a huge fan of Writers and Lovers there was excitement and apprehension going into this short story collection but King did not disappoint. Whilst I think I will always prefer her longer form fiction, it was interesting to dip into something different. Well written and enjoyable read.

I read Lily King’s previous novel Writers and Lovers last year and it was one of my favourites. So I was really excited, while also apprehensive, to read her new collection of stories. I really am not a short story reader, preferring to spend time with my characters in order to gain an emotional connection. However, a select few collections have stolen my heart and this one is definitely one of them.

Lily King has the ability to write in a few pages, characters that jump off the page, characters with believable past and future experiences outside the story itself. Each and every one of these stories felt to me like the beginnings of a novel.

All of the stories in the collection are individual and do not interlink with one another, however there are themes that run through the whole collection. King looks at familial relationships, belonging, desire, heartache. Each of the stories has a character either visiting or staying somewhere that is not home, making me question what makes a home? She also includes a few moments of jarring violence that ground the stories in reality.

My favourites include Creature, Timeline and Hotel Seattle. In each of these stories there is an emotional tension that builds so perfectly to a climax. I was drawn in by the characters and their situation and left reeling at the conclusions of the stories. I would 100% read more about these people.

Overall, a remarkable collection from someone I would consider a new favourite author. I am delighted to have more of King’s back listed novels to explore and will be picking up any new book she publishes.

Lily King will always be a favourite of mine. This short story collection was no exception. I loved it! I feel King's writing style benefits more from an entire novel than short stories, as I wasn't quite as invested in the characters as I was in her novel Writers and Lovers - but I loved them nonetheless. More amazing work from King :-)

Lily King has really carved out a deserved niche for exploring human relationships in her novels and she's back for another round in Five Tuesday in Winter, this time her offering is a collection of short stories delving into love, desire and loss. I did really enjoy a lot of the stories on offer here (the story of a grandfather, bereft in his daughter's hospital room was one of my favourites) and only a couple fell flat. Not quite a showstopper but pretty much!

i've really been loving short story collections recently and this was no exception. there was a similar feel to a lot of them, threading a nostalgic summery, somewhat lonely feeling throughout it

it's also made me want to read writers and lovers

Great read! Lily King is fast becoming one of my favourite authors.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

Each story in this collection felt unique and every character had a distinct voice, with compelling and intricate storytelling. I was never disappointed as I moved from story to story. An excellent collection, that is a must read for everyone.

Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King

This is a collection of short stories by the author of Writers and Lovers, Lily King. I loved every single one of the stories and they showcase what a brilliant writer Lily King is. They are a masterclass of characterisation and how to write about every emotion from desire to ambition to grief. I seldom read short stories as they often leave me wanting more but this collection has changed my mind! Very highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

You know when a book comes your way when it’s most needed? Five Tuesdays in Winter did exactly that for me. I’m not exclusively talking about its content – more the format. This is a book of ten short stories; a genre that I have often neglected in the past, but is proving to be ideal in these never-ending-pandemic-reduced-concentration times.

As mentioned, I don’t read a lot of short stores, therefore I don’t review them a lot. It’s a tricky one as I’m sure you don’t want to read a synopsis of all ten, so I’ll stick to overarching themes.

Lots of the stories feature a teenage narrator, some took a darker turn than I was expecting, some were far more emotional and with some I took the stance as an outsider rather than feeling involved. And as these are, essentially, a snapshot of life, the variety made it all feel very authentic overall. Like these characters have entrusted you with a story from their most personal moments.

Five Tuesday in Winter is perfect for a glimpse into human nature. It’s delicate, intimate, full of love and loss and sometimes blindsides you – in the best way.

Lily King is one of my favourite writers of all time. I also love short stories so this was an amazing combination for me! Each of the stories were so powerful in different ways - there was a mix of love, joy, grief and pain. Some of the stories left me feeling pure happiness (Five Tuesdays in Winter, When in the Dordogne) and some left me feeling shocked or uncomfortable (Creature, Hotel Seattle). Many took my breath away with the beauty and excellence of the writing - in particular 'North Sea' and 'The Man at the Door'.

If you're looking for a beautiful selection of short stories that will stay with you for a long time, I highly recommend this collection.

A wonderfully captivating set of short stories all with a unique storyline and a great cast of characters. I couldnt out this book down it was such an enjoyable read.

Told in the intimate voices of unique and endearing characters of all ages, these tales explore desire and heartache, loss and discovery, moments of jolting violence and the inexorable tug toward love at all costs. A bookseller’s unspoken love for his employee rises to the surface, a neglected teenage boy finds much-needed nurturing from an unlikely pair of college students hired to housesit, a girl’s loss of innocence at the hands of her employer’s son becomes a catalyst for strength and confidence, and a proud nonagenarian rages helplessly in his granddaughter’s hospital room. Romantic, hopeful, brutally raw, and unsparingly honest, some even slipping into the surreal, these stories are, above all, about King’s enduring subject of love.

I really loved Writers & Lovers, Lily King’s previous work, and although the form has changed, this continues her theme of slice of life storytelling. Over 10 stories she has developed individual characters that can walk off the page. The North and Creature were my favourites by far. Themes varied from platonic to romantic love, parenthood and marriage, all in the spaces in between, the quiet parts of life.

Her writing was evocative and moving, her arcs as successful as her previous long form work, I only wish we could have a novel on each of these characters instead.

This is a lovely little short story collection. I loved the title story, which has a similar cosy writer/reader vibe to King’s novel Writers & Lovers. But it’s not all light, with darker themes of addiction and sexual abuse touched on in some stories. My only criticism is that I struggled to orientate myself a little in a few stories, and particularly in North Sea, where I just immediately felt like the daughter’s actions didn’t seem to match her pre-teen age and so I kept getting muddled up about who was who. It’s worth a read if you enjoyed King’s other fiction, or if you’re a fan of writers like Ann Patchett and Elizabeth Strout.