Publisher: HarperCollin's Children's Books
Received: purchased
Read on January 15, 2023
Synopsis from Goodreads:
A short story, based on characters from Solitaire – praised as ‘The Catcher in the Rye for the digital age’ The Times
I used to think that difficult was better than boring, but I know better now…
I’m not going to think about the past few months, about Charlie and me, and all of the sad. I’m going to block it all out. Just for today.
"Happy Christmas, " I say.
The festive season isn't always happy for Tori and her brother Charlie. And this year's going to be harder than most.
Review:
This Winter is the second novella set within the same world as Solitaire and Heartstopper. It takes place over the Christmas before the Solitaire novel and during the timeline of the Heartstopper comics/graphic novels.
The story is told in three points of view: Tori's, Charlie's, and Oliver's. It was nice getting to see all three of the Spring siblings' view of the day. While we get Tori's point of view in Solitaire and Charlie's in Heartstopper and Nick and Charlie, it's the only book I'm aware of where Oliver gets his own part, which is completely understandable considering how young he is. It was somehow both heartwarming and sad how Oliver managed to both be oblivious to a lot of what was going on and also very perceptive at the same time.
Honestly, both Tori and Charlie talk a lot about how they can't believe they're related to Oliver because he's so much more cheerful than them, but a lot of that does seem to be his age. Not that I'm wishing depression on Oliver when he's older or anything, but he does have a pretty typical outlook on life for a kid his age.
Oliver's POV was a good place to end the story because, despite when it takes place, This Winter does not have the overly cheerful tone you typically expect with Christmas stories. Neither Tori or Charlie are in particularly good places, something that's not remotely shocking to anyone who reads Solitaire or Heartstopper before picking This Winter up.
Despite that, This Winter does manage to have that hopeful tone that Alice Oseman is really good at even when bad things are happening in a story. While things aren't easy, you know they will be okay.
I really enjoyed getting a look at the Spring siblings' relationship with each other. We do get that to a certain extent in Solitaire and Heartstopper, but it was a particularly big focus in This Winter, and it was nice to see. I also really loved Nick's family's reaction to meeting Charlie.
This was a quick read that I loved.
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