LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
Idealism, messy relationships, desire and being thrown a lifeline when you’re cast adrift — Ashani Lewis’ Winter Animals presents an intense story that sees a woman recently deserted by her husband find an unlikely, uneasy fellowship with four young strangers.
The woman in question, Elen, is 38 and has nowhere to go. Everything she owns in in her car, where she plans to sleep, surrounded by the snowy chill of the Cascade Mountains, until she can figure out what to do and where to go.
Then, into her life, avalanche-like, come four British teenagers who are drifting between empty AirBnBs in fancy ski resorts. Breaking in and squatting with the audacious confidence of youth and wealth, the entitled teenagers meet her in a bar and invite her to join them. As Elen discovers they’re set on creating a utopia, as she finds herself attracted to one of the girls, she senses something might be simmering beneath their apparent state of freedom, leading her to wonder, “what are they doing with Elen? What do they want from her?”
Atmospheric and addictive, and driven by questions, uncertainty and emotional unease, Winter Animals is chillingly gripping.
Joanne Owen
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Winter Animals Synopsis
Be one of the first to discover this award-winning writer's decadent and addictive debut, a must-read for fans of The Secret History and White Lotus.
In one of America's Happiest Cities, thirty-eight-year-old Elen is trapped under the shadow of the snow-capped Cascade Mountains. Her husband has left her. Her belongings are in the boot of her car. Her days are filled mostly with silence and drinking. When she meets four English teenagers in an empty bar, she is enamoured.
Luka, Clover, George and Lyn are wealthy squatters, drifting between ski resorts and breaking into empty AirBnBs. When they bring Elen into their fold - and into their messy, entangled relationships - she senses a violent secret that fuels the four's never-ending disappearing act.
Dazzling, cultish, and intensely committed to creating their own utopia, they force Elen to ruminate on the irresistible pull of bright young things.
She doesn't understand what they want from her, but how can she leave when she has nowhere else to go?
A dark meditation on the dangers and seductive power of youthful idealism, and the slippages between friendship and love, Winter Animals is an extraordinary debut examining freedom, friendship, desire and excess.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780349703299 |
| Publication date: |
1st February 2024 |
| Author: |
Ashani Lewis |
| Publisher: |
Dialogue Books an imprint of Dialogue |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
240 pages |
| Primary Genre |
General Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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Press Reviews
Ashani Lewis Press Reviews
Excellent . . . Ashani Lewis is superbly talented -- Katherine Rundell
Winter Animals is a remarkable novel: atmospheric as hell, beautiful, and delightfully intelligent. Its unique sentences sparkle with energy. Think The Secret History written by Raven Leilani. I devoured it and am left wanting more, Ashani Lewis is a rare talent! -- Jenny Mustard, author of Okay Days
A talented writer . . . Winter Animals is a dreamlike, piercing examination of privilege, youth and freedom. -- Cecile Pin, author of Wandering Souls
A glittering, dark-edged tale of snow, hedonism, passion, friendship and squatting that explores what happens when a group of rich kids attempt to live out their questionable utopian ideals. Exhilarating and fabulous, I raced through it. -- Priscilla Morris, author of Black Butterflies
