Winter Time

Why do so many South Island writers evoke place so vividly? Maybe it's the iron winters. Or the high, blue-and-gold summers. Or the contrast between the two. . . . They stand insistently in the quiet, accomplished fiction of Laurence Fearnley as well. Winter Time, her new novel – her 11th, I think, so let's pause for some appropriate applause – is immediate with the “frosted breath...mist,” black lakes and white peaks of the Mackenzie Country. . . . Roland is a pretty daring creation. He's loyal, persistent, perceptive but largely ineffectual. He sees a lot, achieves only a little. His vulnerability and intermittent fragility are an intriguing inversion of the trad protagonist and Fearnley uses this adroitly in an increasingly nuanced, nervy plot. . . . As always, Fearnley's prose is precise, spare, springy with cadences of colloquial Kiwispeak, yet resonant with imagery. She's a quiet writer, never showy, building her moods and participants unobtrusively, steadily. There's even the odd and engaging bit of pawky comedy; enjoy the leaking wheat bag. A novel of side roads, both topographical and emotional. Thoughtful motifs of belonging or failing to belong – to places and/or people. Respectful and crafted. All as I'd expect from Laurence Fearnley.

David Hill, Kete Books

Laurence Fearnley has an acute eye for capturing the natural and human worlds, and Winter Time, her latest novel, is no exception. . . . Winter Time – it’s the second in a planned series of books loosely based on the five senses, this one involving touch, so various levels of irony are involved – explores those threads that bind us to others, and what happens when those threads unravel. Fearnley’s keen observations of human frailty, coupled with her evocative natural descriptions, the harsh elements proving a character in their own right, add layers of poignancy to this tenderly harrowing tale. And yet despite Roland’s deep grief, the vindictive social media storm and the savage neighbour with her ancient grudge and greasy mugs, the author’s prose and storytelling skills endow this tale with more than a kernel of hope.

Elisabeth Easther, NZ Listener