{"id":13975,"date":"2024-02-13T12:42:32","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T11:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13975"},"modified":"2024-02-13T12:42:32","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T11:42:32","slug":"a-spell-of-winter-by-helen-dunmore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13975","title":{"rendered":"“A Spell of Winter” by Helen Dunmore"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

OFF THE SHELF<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

“A Spell of Winter”
\nby Helen Dunmore
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

This is an unsettling story of love and betrayal, which is dark and claustrophobic in parts, but a story we all wanted to finish. It is set in turn-of-the-century England, with a Gothic literary genre. Catherine and Rob Allen are siblings two years apart, who grow up in a world of shameful secrets. Their mother creates a public outcry by abandoning her family for a bohemian life on the Continent and their father is committed to an asylum in the country. So, the children are sealed off with their grandfather, maid, and tutor in a crumbling country estate. The main overseer of their childhood is the well-loved servant, Kate, but the predatory tutor, Miss Gallagher lurks around in the shadows. In true gothic fashion, terror, blackmail, violence, and eroticism collect beneath every dark surface. Although the characters are emotionally complicated, they remain absorbing, and it is hard not to wish for the \u2018cloud\u2019 to lift.<\/p>\n

Against this strange and secretive life, Cathy and her brother Rob develop a closeness so fierce that it eventually threatens to smother them both. The turning point in the story comes when Rob, in Cathy\u2019s eyes, unforgivably runs away and she feels betrayed. She is left to build her life and relationships with two significant people who live close to her, her grandfather and Mr Bullivant. When World War I eventually bursts upon them all, Kate seems to find herself and learns quickly how to become self-sufficient. It’s only after she’s experienced this hardship that she’s given a second chance to be redeemed by love.<\/p>\n

There is a slightly Austenesque edge to the characters and the book is intensely gripping if not slightly disturbing in parts. It is understandable why it won the 1996 Orange Book Prize. Our Book Club gave it a score of 8\/10.<\/p>\n

Isobel Davies<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OFF THE SHELF “A Spell of Winter” by Helen Dunmore This is an unsettling story of love and betrayal, which is dark and claustrophobic in parts, but a story we all wanted to finish. It is set in turn-of-the-century England, with a Gothic literary genre. Catherine and Rob Allen are siblings two years apart, who grow up in a world […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[347],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3Dp","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3525,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3525","url_meta":{"origin":13975,"position":0},"title":"June Books Review","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 We had no set book this month, so we all chose a good read, some very successfully, others not quite so. The one 10\/10 was by Rohinton Mistry \u201cA Fine Balance\u201d \u2013 an exceptional novel about India during The Emergency. (We as a group had read this author\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9512,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9512","url_meta":{"origin":13975,"position":1},"title":"Parkinson\u2019s Disease Appeal","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th March 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"PARKINSON\u2019S DISEASE APPEAL Many Wenvoe residents will remember Helen and David Blessley and their contributions to village life. They moved to live in Penarth but still maintain village connections. Helen, being a superb cook, wrote a column called \u2018Helen\u2019s Kitchen' for the magazine for over 15 years. This appeal has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9204,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9204","url_meta":{"origin":13975,"position":2},"title":"The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd March 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"The Long Winter\" by Laura Ingalls Wilder This is an autobiographical children\u2019s novel written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She shares with us the harsh conditions of being brought up as a child in the late 19th century in one of the hardest winters of South Dakota. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/long-winter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9728,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9728","url_meta":{"origin":13975,"position":3},"title":"Happy Memory Books","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th May 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cTHE PAGE TURNERS BOOKS PROMPTING HAPPY MEMORIES\u201d Due to ongoing Welsh Government restrictions, Page Turners were not able to meet up. Instead, book club members were asked to reflect on a book that has a special place on their book shelf, or Kindle! A piece of music can often bring\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7148,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=7148","url_meta":{"origin":13975,"position":4},"title":"\u2018A Winter Book\u2019 by Tove Jansson","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd February 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2018A Winter Book\u2019 by Tove Jansson \u2018A Winter Book\u2019 by Tove Jansson. This is a quirky collection of short stories by an author more renowned for her children\u2019s books about the Moomins. On one level they are an easy read but also have depth and gravitas. They are written from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6062,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6062","url_meta":{"origin":13975,"position":5},"title":"Sebastian Barry -Days Without End","author":"Alan Williams","date":"29th June 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Sebastian Barry -Days Without End The novel is narrated by Thomas McNulty, an Irish emigrant who flees to Canada and then America to escape the Great Famine. In America he befriends John Cole and the two form a close relationship, working first, as young boys, cross-dressing entertainers and then enlisting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13975"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13975"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13976,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13975\/revisions\/13976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}