Colm Tóibín - A Long Winter (Picador, 2025) ****

Originally part of the book "Mothers and Sons", published in 2006, "A Long Winter" has now been re-issued as a separate novella, and with reason. 

It's a great, sad and tragic story, told from the perspective of the oldest son Miquel, who lives with his mother, father and brother in a small village high in the Catalan Pyrenees. His brother has left for his military service, and his mother left the house after a family row, possibly to find her brother in a nearby village. When it starts snowing, all hope of finding her again gradually vanishes, despite the fact that search teams are set up, both officially and informally. 

"It occurred to me then, almost as a way of making that title "Mothers and Sons" more solid, that I could give all the point of view to the son. This meant that everything would be seen by him, registered by him, known by him, noticed by him, remembered by him, felt by him. However, he would not tell the story; it would not use his voice. Instead, it would use the lens and the prism of his perspective. The style would be slow, immersive, third-person intimate. The theory of this is that the reader enters into the spirit of the protagonist after a few pages and begins thereafter to see the world as though they are him, or as though they are close to him." (Afterword, p. 133)

As you can expect from Tóibín, his characters are extremely well drawn, with all their sensitivities and personalities, working with each other despite the challenge of the disappeared mother. At the same time as hope decreases, Miquel's sentiments for young males in his immediate environment rise: a young policeman who is part of the investigative team, and Manolo, a young man who comes to assist with cooking and cleaning. Tóibín masterfully describes, in a very well-paced and subdued writing, the emotions between the two young men, whose relationship grows as the snow starts melting, as the hope of finding his mother's body increases. 

It is a novella, but it's an excellent read, a little gem. Colm Tóibín makes every sentence, every action, every dialogue, every word seem precious and valuable. His language is precise, observant and despite its short length, he makes it a memorable story.