adawada's reviews
121 reviews

It was interesting to read about the Celtic celebrations of the seasons with ideas of crafts, baking and activities to accompany each one as well as some more personal insights from the author. I did find the book a bit surface level though, I would have loved for it to have gone deeper into the personal experiences because they sounded interesting. I also found it weird that the book had no conclusion? After the chapter about Yule, it just ends?
I’m still going to re-read it each year as the seasons change and hopefully make use of the recipes etc. The book itself is so beautiful, it would make a lovely gift. 

I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. The writing is lovely but the text itself feels very disjointed due to various timelines and stories. 

The parts that I have enjoyed the most were the descriptions of how she spends her days being initially off work and then eventually having quit her job altogether. There's also some interesting facts spread throughout about animals and insects or different cultures and religions. 

What I didn't like were the interview-style conversations with people in her life about their "winters". They mostly felt out of place and I just didn't know what the point of them was, like the one about her friend's debt situation, they just felt like they didn't belong. May does say at the end of the book that her initial plan was to have more of those conversations in the book but I thought the book was strong enough just being a memoir. 

Overall I found this book very cosy and would definitely recommend reading it in autumn/winter. I'd also add that I enjoyed it more than her latest book Enchantment but I won't be picking up any other of her books.