Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a break-up, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For Katherine May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered.
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times is a moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world, May’s story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas.
Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.
“Katherine May opens up exactly what I and so many need to hear but haven’t known how to name.” —Krista Tippett, On Being
“Every bit as beautiful and healing as the season itself… This is truly a beautiful book.” —Elizabeth Gilbert
Hardcover
256 Pages
5.75 x 8.5 inches
About Katherine May: May is the New York Times–bestselling author of Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, which has been translated into twenty-five languages around the world. Her journalism and essays have appeared in a range of publications including The New York Times, The Times of London, Good Housekeeping, and Cosmopolitan. She lives by the sea in Whitstable, England.
