I loved this from the very beginning. I took it on holiday with me to France and could not put it down, and in fact it gave me such a book hangover that it spoiled all the other books I took with me. Reading it as a writer, I was alternately thinking, How does Andrew Miller do that?, and I might as well stop writing now. It will definitely be in my top ten reads of the year.

In the winter of 1962 to 1963, two women make a connection through their pregnancies. Rita and Irene are isolated, facing difficulties with their husbands, and everyone begins to struggle with the worst winter in living memory, and the snow. We hear also from the husbands point of view: the local doctor and a man who has decided to take up farming. Not a huge amount happens, but it is all absolutely gripping, fascinating, and beautifully written. I am completely taken.