A Long Winter
Available for the first time in a beautiful standalone edition, one of Colm Tóibín’s finest short stories and “the most striking example of Tóibin’s emotional control” (The Guardian), “A Long Winter,” is set in the mountains of Catalonia in Spain—includes a new afterword by the author on how he came to write the story.

A young man named Miquel returns to his family in the Catalan Pyrenees upon completing his military service. His younger brother, Jordi, will be departing for his service a week after Miquel’s arrival. He will be gone for two years. Miquel notices their mother’s increasingly erratic behavior and understands that she is drinking.

As she becomes increasingly unstable, her husband resorts to drastic measures. Unable to abide his betrayal and her own grief, she walks off into the mountains. A blizzard sets in and the search for her is futile. No one will find her until the spring thaw arrives.

A gorgeous story of loss, grief, and longing, “A Long Winter” describes an extraordinary bond between a mother and son and a haunting portrait of a family in crisis. Tóibín’s powers of imagination and transfixing emotional insight are on full display.
1147161559
A Long Winter
Available for the first time in a beautiful standalone edition, one of Colm Tóibín’s finest short stories and “the most striking example of Tóibin’s emotional control” (The Guardian), “A Long Winter,” is set in the mountains of Catalonia in Spain—includes a new afterword by the author on how he came to write the story.

A young man named Miquel returns to his family in the Catalan Pyrenees upon completing his military service. His younger brother, Jordi, will be departing for his service a week after Miquel’s arrival. He will be gone for two years. Miquel notices their mother’s increasingly erratic behavior and understands that she is drinking.

As she becomes increasingly unstable, her husband resorts to drastic measures. Unable to abide his betrayal and her own grief, she walks off into the mountains. A blizzard sets in and the search for her is futile. No one will find her until the spring thaw arrives.

A gorgeous story of loss, grief, and longing, “A Long Winter” describes an extraordinary bond between a mother and son and a haunting portrait of a family in crisis. Tóibín’s powers of imagination and transfixing emotional insight are on full display.
24.99 Pre Order
A Long Winter

A Long Winter

by Colm Tóibín
A Long Winter

A Long Winter

by Colm Tóibín

Audio CD

$24.99 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Available for Pre-Order. This item will be released on December 2, 2025

Related collections and offers


Overview

Available for the first time in a beautiful standalone edition, one of Colm Tóibín’s finest short stories and “the most striking example of Tóibin’s emotional control” (The Guardian), “A Long Winter,” is set in the mountains of Catalonia in Spain—includes a new afterword by the author on how he came to write the story.

A young man named Miquel returns to his family in the Catalan Pyrenees upon completing his military service. His younger brother, Jordi, will be departing for his service a week after Miquel’s arrival. He will be gone for two years. Miquel notices their mother’s increasingly erratic behavior and understands that she is drinking.

As she becomes increasingly unstable, her husband resorts to drastic measures. Unable to abide his betrayal and her own grief, she walks off into the mountains. A blizzard sets in and the search for her is futile. No one will find her until the spring thaw arrives.

A gorgeous story of loss, grief, and longing, “A Long Winter” describes an extraordinary bond between a mother and son and a haunting portrait of a family in crisis. Tóibín’s powers of imagination and transfixing emotional insight are on full display.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781668149287
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Publication date: 12/02/2025
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 1.50(h) x 5.00(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

About The Author
Colm Tóibín is the author of eleven novels, including Long Island, an Oprah’s Book Club Pick; The Magician, winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; and Nora Webster; as well as two story collections and several books of criticism. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and was named the 2022–2024 Laureate for Irish Fiction by the Arts Council of Ireland. He was shortlisted three times for the Booker Prize. He was also awarded the Bodley Medal, the Würth Prize for European Literature, and the Prix Femina spécial for his body of work.
From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews