A Cold Season

Set between the wars, A Cold Season is rich in voice, character and landscape.

It follows the story of fourteen-year-old Beth, who is also the narrator. Beth's brother Sam and her father Owens have gone missing in a freak winter storm. In a small house in the foothills of Mount Kosciusko, Beth is stuck with her mother and her other brother, Little Sasha. They are waiting and longing for Sam and Owens to return. In what threatens to become an emotional and physical pressure cooker, tensions flare, and to make matters worse Mama is seeing the local bad man, Wallace.

Matthew Hooper's stunning debut expresses how people deal differently with absence and hope. It is a story of finding agency in a world where people, and particularly the young, are often powerless. As Beth plays with language to reclaim her spirit and family, A Cold Season emerges as unforgettable—a novel that captures rural poverty and human capacity with true soul.

Matthew Hooper is a powerful new voice in Australian literature. A Cold Season is both epic and intimate at the same time. This is dramatic, lyrical writing at its best; deeply felt and deeply moving. A work of art that is also a page-turner. An instant classic. Antoni Jach, author of Travelling Companions