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    Winter
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    Winter
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    Winter
    Ebook289 pages5 hours

    Winter

    By Christopher Nicholson

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A November morning in the 1920s finds an elderly man in his eighties walking the grounds of his Dorchester home, pondering his past and future with deep despondence. That man is the revered novelist and poet Thomas Hardy, and Christopher Nicholson's fictionalized account of the final years of the accomplished writer's life is as engrossing as it is heartbreaking. 

    The novel focuses on the true events that occurred around the London theater dramatization of Hardy's acclaimed novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles, including Hardy's hand-picked casting of the young, alluring Gertrude "Gertie" Bugler of The Hardy Players to play Tess. As plans for the play become more concrete, Hardy's interest in Gertie becomes a voyeuristic infatuation, causing him to write some of the best poems of his career. However, when Hardy's reclusive wife, Florence, catches wind of Hardy's desire for Gertie to take the London stage, a tangled web of jealously and missed opportunity ensnares all three characters-with devastating results. 

    Told from the perspectives of Hardy, Gertie, and Florence, Nicholson's novel perfectly captures the often-difficult juxtaposition of fledgling hopes and the unfulfilled life. With expert insight into the struggles of both Hardy and Florence, coupled with poetic yet unassuming prose, Winter is certainly on par with the novels of its central character.


    From the Trade Paperback edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEuropa Editions
    Release dateJan 5, 2016
    ISBN9781609453053
    Unavailable
    Winter
    Author

    Christopher Nicholson

    Christopher Nicholson read English at Cambridge University. He has been a community development worker in Cornwall, and a radio scriptwriter and producer in London. He lives in Dorset. ‘The Elephant Keeper’ is his second novel.

    Read more from Christopher Nicholson

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    Reviews for Winter

    4/5

    3 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Since I have read some ten volumes of Thomas Hardy's work and four biographies of him when I learned of this boo I wanted to read it. It lived up to my hopes and expectations. It is elegantly written depicting Hardy and his second wife, Florence, in 1924, when Hardy was 84 and Florence was 46. Hardy is stubborn and not very affectionate toward his wife though bedazzled by a younger woman who portrays Tess in an amateur production and hopes to do so in a London theater. Florence is insanely jealous and one should feel sorry for her but I found it funny. It is all very deftly done, and the book is a delight to read.
    • 3/5
      a fictional biography about Thomas Hardy, his second wife Florence and a young actress playing his beloved character Tess, whom he was infatuated with. Book was from all three points of view. very well written.
    • 4/5
      This is a fictionalized account of Thomas Hardy's late life, written from his point of view, as well as that of his second wife, Florence, and a young amateur actress Hardy is infatuated with. The book is well written. Although funny at times, there is a sense of sadness that permeates these pages. The author has done a good job of evoking many of the themes, and the atmospheres Hardy himself wrote of.
    • 5/5
      "How many years were left before Death laid its cold hand upon his shoulder?", 25 June 2015This review is from: Winter (Paperback)A wonderful novel, focussing on a winter three years before the death of author Thomas Hardy. Unhappily married to a depressed, rather neurotic woman much younger than him, Hardy becomes charmed with local girl Gertrude Bugler. She is part of the local amateur dramatic group, where Hardy meets her in their performance of 'Tess'. As he plans to help her get the lead role when the play is put on in London, his wife, Florence, is becoming obsessively jealous...Nicholson tells the story in chapters narrated alternately by Florence, Gertrude and by an all-knowing narrator, who can describe Hardy's thoughts and imaginings. There are vivid, Hardy-esque descriptions of the countryside and the old-fashioned house - which he loves but which Florence does not. And the thoughts of the 84 year old as he ponders his imminent demise, his final chance of happiness, are very moving and convincing.I absolutely loved this book and recommend it.