Winterlust : Finding Beauty in the Fiercest Season

“Mr. Brunner’s winning book is a reassuring, nostalgic reminder that winter is the season of both play and regeneration.”—Wall Street Journal

In Winterlust, a farmer painstakingly photographs five thousand snowflakes, each one dramatically different from the next. Indigenous peoples thrive on frozen terrain, where famous explorers perish. Icicles reach deep underwater, then explode. Rooms warmed by crackling fires fill with scents of cinnamon, cloves, and pine. Skis carve into powdery slopes, and iceboats traverse glacial lakes.

This lovingly illustrated meditation on winter entwines the spectacular with the everyday, expertly capturing the essence of a beloved yet dangerous season, which is all the more precious in an era of climate change

“Brunner masterfully does in words what resilient and adventurous people have done in their lives for centuries; he finds beauty in blizzards and ice and the crystallized enchantment of snow.”
—Dan Egan, Pulitzer finalist and author of The Death and Life of the Great Lakes

Bernd Brunner’s writings have appeared in publications around the world including Lapham’s Quarterly, the Paris Review, Quartz, the Times Literary Supplement, and the Wall Street Journal. His acclaimed books have been reviewed in the New York Times and the New Yorker, among others.

Mark Kurlansky is a New York Times-bestselling author and a creative writing instructor. He has written plays, newspaper and magazine articles, and over thirty books, including Milk!, Salt, and Cod. A native New Englander, he is well acquainted with both the rigors and rewards of winter.