A Winter's Rime

A harrowing and emotional novel set in rural Wisconsin, A Winter's Rime explores the impact of generational trauma and one woman's journey to find peace and healing from the violence of her past.

Mallory Moe is a twenty-five-year-old veteran Army mechanic, living with her girlfriend, Andrea, and working overnights at a gas station store while figuring out what's next. Andrea's off-grid cabin provides a perfect sanctuary for Mallory, a synesthete with a hypersensitivity to sound that can trigger flashbacks from her childhood.

The getaway, largely abandoned during the off season, starts out idyllic until Andrea's once-loving behaviour turns controlling and abusive, and Mallory once again finds herself not wanting to go home. After a particularly disturbing altercation, Mallory escapes into the subzero night and stumbles into Shay, a teenage girl, injured and asking for help. But it isn't long before she realises that Shay isn't the only one who needs saving.

A story about sisterhood and second chances, A Winter's Rime looks to nature to find what it can teach us about bearing hardship and expanding our capacity to forgive—not just others, but ourselves.