Winter by Christopher Nicholson

Released in 2014, 'Winter' is an imagined account of events in the career of Thomas Hardy by novelist Christopher Nicholson

Set in the countryside, it describes a long and difficult winter in the 1920s, with Hardy in old age, intensely preoccupied by reflections on change and death but aware too of the possibilities of the present. Hardy was at this time living at Max Gate with his second wife, Florence. Aged 45 but in poor health, Florence came to suspect that Hardy was in the grip of a romantic infatuation -  with the beautiful local actress, 27 year old Gertrude Bugler, who was playing Tess in the first dramatic adaptation of 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles'. Inspired by these events, 'Winter' is a portrait of an old man and his imaginative life but also about the women who surround him: the middle-aged, childless woman who thought she would find happiness; and the young actress, with her youthful hopes and ambitions.

As Reading Groups in Dorset, and with members who have a good deal of knowledge about Hardy, it was difficult sometimes to remember that this was an imagined account and that not every event was biographical. The prose style was admired by many, as were the ‘voices’ used by Christopher Nicholson.

Listening to Christopher Nicholson speak about ‘Winter’ and Dorset is to be recommended – his two talks as part of the symposium that concluded the Ridgeway project were splendid and enjoyed by all the Reading Group members that attended.

'Tess in Winter', a BBC Radio 4 play inspired by 'Winter', was broadcast in the Afternoon Drama slot on 4th December 2015.

An audio version of 'Winter' is available: listen to an extract onwww.soundcloud.com

An interview about 'Winter' with Christopher Nicholson, on BBC Radio 4's'Open Book'. To hear the interview, click on:www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

Extracts from reviews of 'Winter' 

'Nicholson's understated prose perfectly suits this account of Thomas Hardy's unrequited love ....a superfine, thistledown novel about a novelist, a place and about love and loss....' The Guardian

An 'elegiac, beautifully restrained novel, a meditation on aging, marriage and loss' The New York Times

'understated, tender...an entrancing piece of fiction...' The New Yorker

'elegant.... a memorable picture of a failed marriage....' The Mail on Sunday

'gently elegiac...ravishing...Hardyesque....' The Sunday Telegraph

'a very fine and intelligent novel....' The Scotsman

'wonderfully insightful....' Sunday Times

'a wonderful novel, moving, gripping and illuminating.' David Lodge

'You don't have to love Hardy to love this tribute.... pitch perfect... ' The Times