Beautifully written and evocative book that gently captures all that is wrong with the world for its main characters. Depressing? Maybe but there is also something strangely soothing in the thought that as the bleak mid-winter weather reflects the lives and feelings of the protagonists, there must almost be hope - in the reader’s mind, at least - for some sort of change ahead, be it for better or worse.

This novel begins with a slow dance of words. There's a quiet beauty in the structuring, the cadence like poems holding their breath. The pacing is languid, like the fog which begins to descend, obscuring the landscape and each character to one another. The emotional separation between them is immense. Like the failing light of winter, the failing lives of the characters creates a singular loneliness that is palpable, and upsetting.

Their happiness is unrecoverable. Many times, while reading, I wanted to reach into the book and shake them awake. The disconnections linger in the aftermath of war, like lost souls, one to the other. Does the author set out and accomplish his intentions? I believe he does. While it’s not a book for me, the writing is sublime. If you like beautiful written novels with complex character studies you will enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodden & Stoughton for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I remember the freezing winter of 1962/63 as a child, and to me it meant time off school (the toilets froze), and only seeing old news reels later on of the devastation it meant to rural places in the West Country. The author does not disappoint as always, with a strange tale of the people caught in the big freeze, with plenty of personal traumas to add to that of weather.
The crashing inevitably of worlds falling, mental health teetering on the verge of collapse, and an undercurrent of bubbling discontent and disappointment, threaten to rise like the underground rivers Bill tries to recall the names of.
A wonderful evocation of post war Britain, the aftermath and dislocation of war, a fifties of poor food, poor communication, poor women, poor everything.
A terrible harbinger of ‘no good will come of this’ pervades the whole book, it’s painful but it has you in its thrall. You can’t put it down but you know that there will be fatalities as well as new life and regeneration.

Tender, deep invocation of the harsh winter of 1962 and 1963, through 2 couples’ lives

I have read several of Miller’s novels : he is always an author I know will immerse me into a layered, beautifully created world, with complex, fully rounded participants, and a sure narrative drive. And so it is here. The winter of late 1962 was an incredibly harsh one in this country, with repeated snowfalls and impacted ice lasting well into March 1963.

The setting of this book is a semi-rural, village location in the West Country, with Bristol the nearest large conurbation, and follows, particularly two young married couples, with both wives newly pregnant with their first children

Eric is a fairly recently qualified doctor, joining the small practice run by Gabby, a European Jew, who has survived the dreadful events visited on those whose lands were occupied by Fascists. Eric has dark secrets unknown to his supportive wife, Irene.

Bill is the wealthy, intelligent son of a successful businessman with a complex history. He is estranged from his father, not interested in joining the family business, but has dreams of making his own way as a farmer. He has bought a smallholding, and is rather looked down on, a figure of some fun to the established farming community. Bill is an early forerunner of ‘The Good Life’ in ideology. His wife, Rita, flamboyant vital and funloving is the one in this marriage with secrets to hide.

The two men have some kind of aversion and distrust of each other. The wives, though so different in their histories and characters, find a shared friendship in their pregnancy, and in the fact that they are both strangers, incomers into this rather traditional community. The 60’s of course, are just beginning, and some of the huge changes which happened in that decade are just around the corner.

Meanwhile, the bitterly cold winter traps people inside their homes, and the country itself is teetering on the edge of emergency, with roads impassable, access to goods and even security of energy for heating fragile. Not to mention what happens to food production and food distribution. Just as everything is buried beneath a frozen landscape, what is buried in people’s personal history is something which may be as destructive as the melting of ice in frozen pipes, when truths come to light.

Beautifully written, this was one to savour, and not to rush through

“I wanted it to be something that was not afraid to slide sideways as well as going forwards.” This is what author Andrew Miller said of The Land in Winter in a recent interview in The Bookseller (p15, 23rd August 2025). This statement accurately sums up the digressive style of the novel.
Set in the severe British winter of 1962-3, it follows the lives and thoughts of two married couples: country doctor Eric and his quiet wife Irene; new farmer Eric and his ex-dancer wife Rita. As they contend with the elements, they also reveal their inner turmoils and their unexpected coping mechanisms.
With a strong sense of time and place, it is ideal for fans of slow-burn character study.
This is an independent review of a NetGalley early copy. With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity.
On its publication, I will post my review of this novel on my website.

What a treat to enjoy another superbly written, wonderful read from Andrew Miller. ‘The Land in Winter’ is set in the notoriously harsh winter of 1962. In the West Country two neighbours, a GP and a farmer, are at war with the weather which is making it almost impossible for them to carry out their work. Little do they know it but this is not all they have in common. Both men are recently married; their relationships are not entirely harmonious and their wives are pregnant. Both men feel the shadow of their fathers lurking nearby – what must they do to make their peace?
Meanwhile, wives Iris and Rita surprise themselves by enjoying each other’s company. Nervous about the role of motherhood, they comfort themselves with cinema, drinks and snippets of their past. And in the background, the local asylum broods over the arctic scene.
The power of this novel comes in part from Andrew Miller’s ability to create beautifully harsh and hostile landscapes which emphasise the turmoil of the key characters’ inner lives. It is not difficult to have sympathy for the women or for Bill, the farmer, all of whom have made unwise choices but with good reason. In contrast, Eric, the doctor, is a character for whom we have less and less compassion as the story develops, perhaps because he is so self-serving. It is ironic that, at the end of the novel, he believes his redemption may be to travel to climes still more harsh.
Miller’s understanding of the influence of the minutiae of life in our day-to-day existence, alongside his ability to depict aspects of humanity in a way that encourages the reader to think hard, makes ‘The Land in Winter’ a real pleasure to read. Highly recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley and Sceptre for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Intrigue held my attention from the outset. An unsettling and, at times, depressing story of two couples living in a small country community in the depths of winter. Very different characters from different backgrounds, their relationships falter and they each question the life they lead.

The first part of this novels builds the foundations to the story and thereafter picks up pace. A sensitive and empathetic view of life with an astonishing closure. I enjoyed the unusual style of writing, which made a refreshing change, delving deeper into the mindset.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC in return for an independent review.

The Land in Winter is set during the 'big freeze' of early 1963. It concerns the lives of two couples, farmer Bill and Rita and the village doctor, Eric and his wife, Iris. The two women, both pregnant, strike up an unlikely friendship.

What I liked about this book. The prose is beautiful. Descriptions are detailed and you can see the scenes clearly. The beginning of the book is especially good and you are easily drawn into the lives of these four people. The details of life in the early sixties, the drabness of those post war years is very well done.

What I wasn't so sure about. This is not a heavily plotted book. Not that this is necessarily a problem but at times it did feel very slow as a result. I much preferred the beginning of the book. Once the heavy snow began it became less engrossing – were there too many characters? I'm not sure.

Overall, a worthwhile read. If you have read Miller's work before you will know what to expect from him in the way of precise language. If you haven't and you prefer there to be more of a story, then maybe not. I did enjoy it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

I found this book oddly addictive, never more so than when nothing was really happening.
Looking into the lives of four people, and two marriages, (and our extra Dr who charmed me completely)
The mundane day to day, mixed in with the exciting.
Things for me, slowed down a bit when we left the village, and many other characters joined the story.
However, an incredible read.
Very much enjoyed it.

Andrew Miller occasionally sets his novels in the present but excels at historical fiction whether it be the 18th century of my favourite, Ingenious Pain, or 1962/3 in The Land in Winter which follows two very different couples, incomers to the Somerset village where they’re neighbours.
The son of a railwayman, Eric enjoys the status of country doctor, engaging in an affair, oblivious to the unhappiness of his wife, Iris. Their nearest neighbours are Bill, defying his father’s wishes to join the dubious family business to take up farming instead, and Rita who remembers her days as a dancer while trying to fend off the voices in her head. Both Iris and Rita are pregnant and lonely opening them to an unlikely friendship. Shortly after Christmas, a blizzard cuts off swathes of the country, resulting in a series of tumultuous events for both couples.
Miller’s engrossing, atmospheric novel is set over a few months when Britain grappled with winter conditions it hadn’t endured since 1947, just a short time after the end of the Second World War whose effects are still very apparent: much of Bristol is still a bombsite, Rita’s father is haunted by what he witnessed liberating Belsen while Bill’s father has his own ghosts as does Gabby, Eric’s partner. It’s a theme subtly woven through Miller's novel as is class, neatly conveyed often in a few words or actions. As ever his period detail is evocative and his characterisation strong, shifting the narrative smoothly between the four main protagonists, unfolding each of their very different stories.

I adored this from the get go. Miller wrote with so much passion and purpose, every single word was carefully chosen. The characters, Rita and Irene especially, were fascinating. I would have happily read another 300 pages about them specifically. While nothing too exciting happened plot wise, there was so much weight behind every single character interaction that this book felt so well plotted and planned. Every scene had my attention and there wasn’t a single part of this book that bored me or I felt was unnecessary. A master class of crafted characters with a focus on the human element.

Set in the early 1960s, this is about the lives of two young couples who are neighbours, albeit at a distance. Bill and Rita have a farm. Bill has grand ambitions but not the means to fulfill them. Rita has a troubled past, which her husband does not really understand, and is newly pregnant. Eric is the local GP. and his wife Irene is also expecting a baby. Their marriage comes under a severe test. The author takes us into the heads of all these four characters, revealing their introspections as this long hard winter progresses. All of them hope to escape their present lives but is it possible? The writing style is mesmerizing, the characters interesting and the setting is beautifully described.