I love to suit my reading to the season, so if you're a mood reader looking for inspiration as the winter chill starts to settle in, here are the books on my TBR for the next few months. They're full of rugged landscapes, ghosts, folklore and family drama – they'll make wet weather and short days feel atmospheric and moody, rather than just bleak and dull.❄️✨
Land
Maggie O'Farrell
First off is the new book by the incomparable Maggie O'Farrell, queen of literary historic fiction. Coming out just as we hit June, this book is perfectly timed for an immersive winter read.
Land is a powerful family drama set in Ireland in the late 1800s, as the country grapples with the enormous toll of the Great Hunger. I'm looking forward to this for a long and engrossing read, that deals with both the beauty of the Irish landscape and the importance of recognising and preserving history.
At Sea
Y.M. Abdel-Magied
Next we have another new release for winter, but we're jumping from the 1800s to the present day, with a literary thriller on an oil rig!
This new book from Sudanese-Australian writer and activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a gripping look at ambition and power, and the nightmare of being a lone woman amongst men. The claustrophobia of the rig, in the wildness of the ocean, will make this book great reading for winter's long dark nights! Not to mention the sense of dread I get from the blurb alone makes me confident this will be an engrossing page-turner, as well as a thought-provoking read.
Mantle
Romy Ash
Mantle is Romy Ash's second novel after the Miles Franklin shortlisted Floundering, and offers an unsettling look at where evolution could take us in the face of the climate crisis. But in addition to the creeping dread brought by a mysterious, incurable disease, Mantle is also full of vivid descriptions of small-town life and the harsh beauty of coastal Tasmania that will make you feel immersed in the world, even while you're snuggled at home and avoiding going out.
In all honesty, just the cover and the fact that this is set in Tasmania already had me keen to read Mantle, but when I read our bookseller's review, it became a must-read. There are growing numbers of books exploring our relationship with land in the face of climate destruction, but this promises to be a unique and rewarding one.
How to Love the World
Ilka Tampke
This is an emotional Australian novel that reflects on family, motherhood and what drives us even in our darkest moments.
Tampke's main character is injured and trapped by a falling branch in a remote forest, left to reflect on her life – the children she's raised, the expectations she had of motherhood and the realities she discovered behind the myths. It looks to be an immersive, powerful and unflinching reading experience, though I will admit that the connection to winter is purely that being stuck in a vast forest just feels wintery to me …
The Red Winter
Cameron Sullivan
This one didn't take a lot of imagination, but I don't think there's a better time to read The Red Winter!
The Red Winter is a historical fantasy based on the French legend of the Beast of Gévaudan, a werewolf myth rooted in real attacks that took place in the French countryside in the 1700s. This novel reimagines the hunt for the beast, adding dark magic, romance and a bloody battle for power, but with a wry sense of humour that manages to balance the horrors. I've actually already made a start on this one, and am delighted with it.
The Witch
Marie NDiaye, translated by Jordan Stump
This is a magical French novel that was shortlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize, and offers a literary take on the small-town witch (and as a fan of Practical Magic, that's a very appealing prospect). I was keen to pick it up when the International Booker longlist was first announced in February, before stock was even available in Australia! But now that it's here, I do think winter feels like the right time for a story about witches who cry tears of blood …
Described as witty, dreamlike and vaguely unsettling, and tackling themes of motherhood and womanhood, this promises to be both moving and atmospheric.
John of John
Douglas Stuart
This is the new book from the Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain, and takes readers back to Scotland, but this time to the remote island of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. Like Land, this epic novel is deeply entrenched in the landscape of its setting, but instead of writing about history Stuart is looking at contemporary Scotland and the cultural divides between generations.
Our reviewer describes the wholeness and realness of the characters as core to this novel's power – exploring the lives of three very different people living in close quarters in the family's croft, Stuart makes the stakes of their lives feel incredibly real. I don't expect to get through this book without shedding a few tears, but I'm confident it will be a deeply rewarding reading experience.
Japanese Gothic
Kylie Lee Baker
This novel is essentially a haunted house version of The Lake House, with two people from separate points in time unexpectedly converging in a centuries-old house in the Japanese countryside. While dancing across timelines, Japanese Gothic combines a contemporary murder mystery with a historical drama about a female samurai trying to protect her family from political and supernatural threats.
The plot summary alone is plenty compelling, but given the success of Kylie Lee Baker's bestselling Bat Eater, I'm even more confident this new book is a must-read for fans of speculative fiction or magical realism. And in my opinion, winter is of course the time to embrace all things gothic!
Finally, I want to look past the shiny, exciting new releases and mention some classics that also make wonderful winter reading. Edith Wharton's Pomegranate Seed and Other Ghostly Tales is on my radar to pick up soon, since this is the perfect season for ghost stories; A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens' sweeping drama about doomed lovers caught up in the French revolution, feels appropriate for cosy reading while avoiding wet weather; and of course anything by the Brontës will be gothic, moody and full of windswept moors (and if you haven't already read Wuthering Heights, this is the year to do it).
Happy reading, and stay warm! 🧣
