2025 Booker Longlist: The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller

Our panel’s final book is The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller. Keep reading to see our reviews and final ranking of all Booker longlist nominees.

Andrew Miller is a British novelist known for his vivid storytelling and rich sense of history. From his award-winning debut Ingenious Pain to the Costa Prize–winning Pure, his novels blend big ideas with deeply human characters, earning him a devoted readership around the world. The Land in Winter is his 10th novel.

Book Synopsis from Booker website: December 1962, the West Country.  
  
Local doctor Eric Parry, mulling secrets, sets out on his rounds, while his pregnant wife sleeps on in the warmth of their cottage. Across the field, funny, troubled Rita Simmons is also asleep, her head full of images of a past life her husband prefers to ignore. He’s been up for hours, tending to the needs of the small dairy farm where he hoped to create a new version of himself, a project that’s already faltering.  
But when the ordinary cold of an English December gives way to violent blizzards, the two couples find their lives beginning to unravel.  
  
Where do you hide when you can’t leave home? And where, in a frozen world, can you run to?  

Tracy’s Thoughts: This is a book to be admired, read at a leisurely pace, savored. The writing style is reminiscent of the style of the period it represents, and the setting is almost straight from a Hardy novel. All that being said, reading it with such a short time before the short list announcement? I feel like missed something in that middle section because I plowed through it. I liked that none of the characters were likeable, except the bull. He was great.

Writing quality: 4/5
Originality: 3/5
Character development: 3/4
Plot development: 2/4
Overall enjoyment: 1/2
Total: 13/20

Lisa’s Thoughts:  I agree with Tracy that this is a book to be savored. Although the pace is not fast, I really looked forward to reading it. The winter — the cold and snow and ice — is essentially a character in the book. You can feel the cold as you read it. You can also feel the isolation of the main characters — due to not just the weather but also the echoes of the Second World War and the inescapable fact that even when married, one lives only within the confines of one’s own mind. This sounds bleak, and yet I also found the story to be hopeful. Humans can care for each other, and possibly even forgive each other.

Writing quality: 5/5
Originality: 5/5
Character development: 4/4
Plot development: 2/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 18/20

Jen’s Thoughts:  The judges this year certainly have a type. In many ways I felt like I was reading the same book in different settings (with some exceptions). I agree with both of the our panelists above that this was a book that required a slow pace. I think the writing was excellent and perhaps one of my favorite from the list in terms of writing style. The strength of this book is that the author’s writing really transports you to the time and place. As Lisa mentions above, you can really feel the winter and you can feel the setting. I did feel a bit thrown off with the pacing that was very slow initially and then a bit too fast toward the end. Overall, however, I did enjoy the reading process.

Writing quality: 5/5
Originality: 3/5
Character development: 3/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 16/20

Rankings
1. Endling: 18.8
2. Seascraper: 18.25
3. Audition: 17.88
4. The loneliness of Sonia and Sunny: 17.75
5. The Land in Winter: 15.67
5. Universality: 14.5
6. Flesh: 14.4
7. The South: 14.25
8. Flashlight: 14.2
9. One Boat: 13
10. Misinterpretation: 11.75
11. The Rest of Our Lives: 10.75
12. Love forms: 10.5

Have you read it?  What do you think? Want to try it for yourself? You can purchase your copy here: The Land in Winter