Product Description

When Corbet Lynn returns home to rebuild his family's estate, his grandfather's curse is rekindled-and lures a free spirited woman from the woods that border Lynn Hall.

"Weaves a dense web of desire and longing, human love and inhuman need." (Publishers Weekly)

"The prose is impeccable, the story memorable, and the characters admirable." (Science Fiction Chronicle)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #806496 in Books
• Published on: 1997-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

From Amazon.com
Winter Rose begins as the seemingly simple story of Rois and Laurel Melior and their understandable fascination with young Corbet Lynn, returned to rebuild his abandoned ancestral home, Lynn Hall. Laurel is drawn to Corbet's beauty, Rois to the mystery of his past. But the past holds more than one mystery, and as Rois fights her way into the wood around Lynn Hall, seeking answers for herself, Laurel, and Corbet, she risks losing everything, for all of them, forever.

Traces of Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market, of Tam Lin, and of a dozen other legends and tales color Rois's story. Patricia McKillip's consummate mastery of language means that every word counts in a complex, sweetly painful story of human love and timeless, indifferent power.

From Publishers Weekly
Woods-wise and free-spirited, Rois Melior is the opposite of her sensible sister, Laurel. But both Rois, who narrates, and Laurel fall under the spell of the stranger who enters their world. Decades ago, according to village gossip, Tearle Lynn murdered his father and mysteriously disappeared. Now Tearle's son, Corbet, has come home to rebuild crumbling Lynn Hall. Despite her attraction to Corbet, Rois is warned by her otherworldly senses that he is not what he seems. As Laurel falls hard for Corbet, Rois searches for the truth about the Lynns, but the answers she finds lead only to more questions. When Corbet disappears, Laurel begins to sicken and fade. To save her sister as well as Corbet, Rois will have to come to terms with the secret of her own changeling identity. The pace here is deliberate and sure, with no false steps; the writing is richly textured and evocative. McKillip (The Book of Atrix Wolf, and winner in 1975 of a World Fantasy Award for her novel The Forgotten Beasts of Eld) weaves a dense web of desire and longing, human love and inhuman need.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Wild and free-spirited Rois Melior finds Corbett Lynn rebuilding his grandfather's house in the woods. Soon her engaged sister, the practical and domestic Laurel, has fallen for Corbett. When Corbett disappears, Rois travels during sleep between the woods and another shadow world to find him. McKillip's (The Book of Atrix Wolfe, Ace, 1995) lyrical imagery infuses this coming-of-age story with intrigue in a world of nature. Highly recommended for fantasy collections.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A beautiful, otherworldly story
This was the first book of McKillip's I have read, and I enjoyed it very much. The story possesses the mysterious, otherworldly feel of an old fairy tale. The writing is lyrical and the imagery is just wonderful. A truly beautiful book.

As a person who reads a lot of epic fantasy, I found the story in this book refreshing, for there are no battles, no kings and queens, and no political intrigue. Rather, the story follows two sisters throughout the course of one year: Rois, the "wild" one who loves to roam the woods, and Laurel, the "sensible" older sister who sits by the fire and does embroidery. Their stable lives are changed when Corbet Lynn, a mysterious stranger, seems to materialize from the edge of the forest to take up residence at his ancestral home near their farm.

This description may sound like a romance novel, but Winter Rose is nothing like that. It's dreamy, surprising, and sophisticated. After reading such a beautiful piece of writing I will be sure to pick up some more books by this very talented writer.