The Wood at Midwinter, Susanna Clarke
In her most recent work, a short story set in the alternate Newcastle of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell’s world, Clarke takes us into the woods with a characteristically idiosyncratic protagonist, Merowdis Scot. Called a saint by some, and by Clarke herself as possibly neurodivergent, Merowdis is immediately singled out as a person with odd tendencies and an ability to commune with the woods and nature. She speaks to her animal companions, two dogs and a pig named Apple, and to the woodland trees, whose breezy, insubstantial speech is represented with charm and skill by Victoria Sawdon’s stunning illustrations.
Coming in at a mere fifty pages, The Wood at Midwinter is packed with delightful winter imagery and thematic simplicity. As with Jonathan Strange and Piranesi, Clarke continues to show her impressive capability to craft a setting in a few sentences: “It was winter,” she writes at the story’s opening, “just a few days before Christmas. A few flakes of snow fell on the quiet fields.” Throughout the novel, Clarke’s emphasis on the quiet of winter, a time of hibernation and stillness in nature, draws the reader into the world of the woods through which Merowdis travels. But Clarke chooses this setting not by accident – the novel explores both the moment at which the world is sleeping, and the life which exists in between the snowy trees. In this tiny volume, Clarke invokes themes of motherhood, birth, ecocriticism, and religion, weaving them together in a succinct and affective story which will stay with you long after you finish reading.
Clarke has also supplied a paratextual afterword for the short story. In Afterword: Snow, Clarke enlightens the reader to some of the story’s origins, as well as its thematic intentions and the time of year which inspired it. Readers eager to understand Clarke’s process and delve deeper into the themes of the story will enjoy this extra piece of writing; it’s well worth returning to the story after having read it, to truly get an appreciation for the work that went into creating it.
Light in plot, heavy in theme, and sprinkled with magic, The Wood at Midwinter offers a perfect way to ready yourself for the incoming autumn season. Be prepared to cosy up and envelop yourself in the snowy woodland alongside Merowdis and her animal friends.
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