A review by sarahmatthews
The Woods in Winter by Stella Gibbons

medium-paced

The Woods in Winter by Stella Gibbons 

Read on audio

Narrator: Gabrielle Baker

Tantor Audio  

Pub. 1970, 224pp

This is my second Stella Gibbons, after reading Nightingale Wood a couple of years ago. I found it to be a delightful, easy read, set in the 1930s, with characters that have some bite.

firstly we meet Ivy and Helen who live in Kentish Town and Hampstead respectively, Ivy being charwoman for poet Helen, visiting regularly but in acordance with her own routine. Ivy is the star of the novel, a woman in her 40s, (“closer to 50 than 40” as frequently observed by those who meet her), who’s been widowed 3 times and is unprepared to put up with the usual expectation of social norms such as politeness and small talk. She lives like on her own terms but has a friendly relationship with Helen, a sensitive, nervous younger woman who’s become entangled with a wealthy man from a more prosperous set who she’s loosely connected to through a friend, Coral, a rather unlikeable, haughty sort who looks down on people like Ivy. Helen struggles with this friendship at times, recognising her friend’s snobbish lack of empathy towards Ivy.

At the start of the book Ivy receives a letter which she’s unable to fully understand and takes it to Helen who explains that she’s been left a cottage in the countryside by her great-uncle and, after mistrusting the letter and having to be persuaded it’s all legit, she moves there. Just before leaving London she sets a dog free that’s been barking non stop near her home and takes him with her, naming him Neb. They make great companions and, as he was mistreated, he will only behave with Ivy.

We see Ivy adjusting to life in the country, a huge contrast to her London existence. At one point she meets Helen who’s out for a walk with her on-off boyfriend:

“Now it was December, the last leaves had gone and the beeches stood naked and strong, breathing out calm, or rocking slowly in the tearing winds that whirled their copper carpet in showers. With her winter hat rammed well over her brow, and followed by Neb, leaping and pouncing after the flying leaves, Ivy walked in the woods, with step light as the racing clouds above… One Sunday she met Miss Green, walking with a young gentleman…

“How d’you think Nebbie’s looking now?”

His beautiful! He matches the leaves.” Neb was rushing around in crazy circles some way off, sending up tawny clouds all around him.

“And you’re liking it, living down here, are you?”

“Suits me fine Miss”

Helen studied her, with one quick stare which took in an increased thinness, a brighter eye, a still browner face and some kind of change in the line of her mouth, a softening in it’s grimness?”

Countryside living seems to bring out the dormant witchy side of Ivy as she manages to tame Neb and she’s happy to live with all manner of creatures including mice and cockroaches!

Woven in with this narrative are several other storylines centring around Helen and her friends Coral and Pearl, who set up a tea room in a nearby village, and the local residents who don’t quite know what to make of Ivy. 

I’m so glad I discovered this gorgeous piece of storytelling through the #1970Club reading event  hosted by bloggers Karen and Simon.