10 wintry books to read over the holidays (that aren't romcoms)

Every year as December approaches, I notice myself starting to crave seasonal books that capture the vibes and mood of the holiday season without necessarily being specific holiday books (if that makes any sense?). This year, I started compiling a list of books that are wintry and/or holiday-adjacent that would be perfect to read in December. This is a list I hope to keep expanding over the years, so if you have any recommendations to add, please leave a comment. And if holiday romances are more your style this time of year, Michelle Martin is your go-to for all things cozy, heartwarming, and pure delight.

Flight by Lynn Steger Strong. Steger Strong’s piercing novel takes place over a snowy holiday as three adult siblings, still raw from loss, reunite in upstate New York. A blizzard tightens the pressure, revealing old wounds and unexpected kindnesses. This, to me, is perfect holiday read: crisp and austere, interwoven with family drama and a wintry holiday setting.

Time of the Child by Niall Williams.Set in the small Irish town of Faha wrapped in the quiet hush of winter in 1962, this lyrical novel centres on the arrival of a newborn whose presence unsettles and softens a community worn thin by grief. Williams’ writing is glowing, gentle, and full of quiet wonder—perfect for curling up and reading by the glow of the Christmas tree.

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. Across one December in 1980s Ireland, Keegan examines moral courage through the eyes of coal merchant Bill Furlong. In Keegan’s signature prose—spare, luminous, and at times startlingly unsentimental—we get an intimate look at Furlong’s past and present struggles with the Catholic Church and the silent reverberations of its impact on his life and upbringing in his small town.

A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks. London in the week leading to Christmas becomes a pressure chamber for bankers, critics, teenagers, and idealists. Faulks weaves satire with compassion, offering a brisk, intelligent portrait of a city illuminated and distorted by year-end brightness, particularly for readers looking for some early(ish) 2000s nostalgia.

A Long Winter by Colm Tóibín. This stark novella published as a standalone this year follows a young man searching for his missing mother in the Catalan Pyrenees. Tóibín captures winter as both landscape and emotional state—stripped back, unforgiving, and quietly transformative. This is the kind of book, like Small Things Like These, to savour over a single quiet evenings.

The Party by Tessa Hadley. A glittering winter party becomes the stage for decades of class tension, desire, and unravelled friendship in this story about two sisters in post-war Bristol. Moira and Evelyn, on the cusp of adulthood, meet much older men at an art students’ party where they are then invited to their suburban mansion for an even more glamorous experience. Hadley has been recommended to me over and over again by several trusted readers, so I’m looking forward to exploring this complicated sister story.

The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott. Beginning on a cold Brooklyn afternoon, McDermott’s novel follows an Irish-American community at the turn of the 20th century in the aftermath of a young man’s suicide. Leaving behind his wife and unborn child, the story unravels around the circumstances of his passing within the Irish Catholic framework. While this premise is bleak, it also seems like the kind of book that is steeped in winter light: soft, muted, tinged with sorrow and the kind of nostalgia that aches deeply from within.

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney. On New Year’s Eve, 85-year-old Lillian walks Manhattan, revisiting the milestones of her extraordinary life. Rooney captures the singular magic of winter nights: quiet streets, shimmering lights, and the sense of another year turning. Warm, wise, unforgettable, and perfect for that lazy week between Christmas and New Year’s.

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett. A delightful epistolary mystery told through emails, memos, and texts as a village theatre troupe’s holiday production descends into chaos. Witty, warm, and inventive—a playful winter palate cleanser. I’ve read another one of Hallett’s epistolary mysteries and very much enjoyed its unique style and the quirkiness of the cast of characters.

A Home for the Holidays by Taylor Hahn. Wedding singer Mel Hart loses her mother two weeks before Christmas, when Connie, a woman claiming to be her mother’s long lost best friend, shows up at her door. This visit complicates everything Mel thought she knew about her mother, as she navigates older versions of herself and her mother, unspoken tensions harboured between them, and her unexpected friendship with Connie. A thoughtful, contemporary holiday story that honours both the nostalgia and growth at the heart of mother-daughter relationships.

What kinds of books are you drawn to this time of year? I’d love to hear your recommendations in the comments so please share below!

Thanks for reading,
-Alexandra