Has anyone else read this? I just found it and it was incredble... so beautifully written and so moving. Really subtle handling of a very tricky subject and emotionally, a real hitter.

That's one of the few Dunmore novels I haven't read, actually. But I adore all the others, particularly 'Talking to the Dead', 'Zennor in Darkness' and her 'Ingo' trilogy for children. Check out the poetry, too. The woman can turn her hand to anything.

I read one of the Ingo books - really just to see what young adult literature was about these days - and I thought it was great... but A Spell of Winter is in a league of its own. I've now bought two more of her novels to read ... although I'm on Patrick Neate's London Pigeon Wars at the moment - quite a different read but very good.

I'm so glad I've Dumore's work though - for some reason she had fallen under my radar.