The Land in Winter

Andrew Miller’s 2024 The Land in Winter is a slow-burning historical novel set in rural Somerset during the “Big Freeze” of 1962-63. The narrative follows the intersecting lives of two neighboring couples: Dr. Eric Parry and his wife, Irene, and a young farmer, Bill Simmons, and his wife, Rita. As a brutal winter descends, the fragile foundations of their lives are tested by a death by suicide at the local psychiatric hospital, a clandestine affair, and the unearthing of long-buried secrets. The novel’s themes include Marriage as a Failed Promise of Intimacy and The Search for an Authentic Self in a Prescriptive World. A past winner of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Costa Book of the Year Award, Miller is celebrated for his atmospheric and immersive historical fiction.

This guide refers to the 2025 Europa Editions edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of death by suicide, suicidal ideation, pregnancy loss or termination, illness or death, substance use, graphic violence, sexual content, and mental illness.

Language Note: The source text uses the term “asylum” to refer to a psychiatric hospital. This term is preserved throughout, as Miller uses it to critique historical prejudice toward mental illness.

Plot Summary

On December 7, 1962, Martin Lee, a patient in a psychiatric hospital, wakes in the middle of the night. He discovers that a young man, Stephen Storey, is missing from his bed. Martin, a former war photographer, searches the hospital and finds Stephen’s body in the drying room. A note clipped to Stephen’s tie expresses his loss of faith in humanity.

The narrative shifts to Dr. Eric Parry performing his morning house calls. He visits several patients, including a terminal cancer patient named Peter Gurney, for whom he prescribes diamorphine, a pain-relieving practice advocated by his medical partner, Gabby Miklos. At his surgery, Eric finds a perfumed, intimate letter from his lover, Alison Riley. Soon after, Irene calls to tell him the “asylum” has been trying to reach him.

At Water Farm, Eric and his wife Irene’s neighbor, Rita Simmons, wakes late with morning sickness. Rita feels isolated, rarely seeing her husband, Bill, who wakes early to tend to the farm. She feeds the hens and reads a science fiction novel before deciding to visit the Parrys with a gift of eggs. Irene Parry, also pregnant and lonely, contemplates a print of The Arnolfini Marriage in her bedroom and plans a Boxing Day party. She welcomes Rita’s unexpected arrival.

Bill Simmons attempts to mend a broken gate, fearing his decision to become a farmer was a mistake. He checks on his pregnant cow, Drusilla, and worries about his expensive bull’s disinterest in breeding. He later finds Drusilla has delivered a stillborn calf.

Eric goes to the psychiatric hospital, where he learns that Stephen Storey died by suicide using the chloral hydrate pills Eric prescribed. The hospital’s administrator implies Eric will be held responsible in the resulting inquiry. Unsettled, Eric drives to Alison’s house and gives her Enovid, a new oral contraceptive. Back at the cottage, Irene and Rita bond over their shared pregnancies and discuss their lives. While alone in the bathroom, Rita has disturbing auditory hallucinations but hides them from Irene. Irene invites the Simmonses to the party.

Bill visits an abandoned airfield, where he hopes to convert a bomber hangar into a beef cattle operation, a project that requires £15,000. He has not revealed this plan to Rita, nor does he tell her about the stillborn calf. That evening, Eric argues with Irene about the party invitation, revealing that Rita’s father, Martin Lee, is a patient at the “asylum.”

A week later, Eric attends Stephen Storey’s post-mortem. He then meets Alison, intending to end their affair. Alison performs oral sex on Eric and gives him an expensive watch. He fails to break off the relationship. Bill presents his business plan to his bank manager, who insists the bank requires a co-investor. He suggests Bill should ask his estranged father, a wealthy but unscrupulous businessman. Irene and Rita take the train to Bristol, where Rita is haunted by memories of a past termination of pregnancy. They see a film and meet the projectionist, Byron, who is the brother of Rita’s estranged friend, Gloria.

On Boxing Day, the Parrys host their party. The guests include Gabby Miklos, Rita and Bill, and Alison and Frank Riley. Irene’s friend, Tessa, also attends with her married lover, a playwright named David. Tensions are evident throughout the evening. Discovered alone in the Parrys’ bedroom, Alison asks Irene which side of the bed Eric sleeps on. Gabby attempts to discuss his Holocaust experiences with Bill, who is unable to engage. Snow falls as the party concludes, marking the beginning of the “Big Freeze.”

The forced isolation of the blizzard brings Eric and Irene closer, and he confesses his role in Stephen’s death. Irene and Rita meet and joyously build a snowman. When the railway line is cleared, Eric returns to work and discovers his patient, Peter Gurney, has died. While sorting laundry, Irene finds Alison’s letter in Eric’s jacket, confirming his affair. Devastated, she leaves the cottage, intending to travel to her parents’ home. Eric returns to find the house empty and the letter left on the kitchen table.

Despite his disapproval of his father, Bill travels to London to ask him for money. He and his father talk while sitting naked in a steam room converted from an old air-raid shelter. The next day, Bill’s brother, Charlie, shows him one of their father’s squalid rental properties. Charlie states that their father, a Jewish-Hungarian immigrant, has fulfilled his ambition through Bill: he has raised an “English gentleman” who is “ashamed” of him.

Irene’s train becomes stuck in the snow, and she is forced to walk with other passengers to a nearby school for children who are blind. Meanwhile, Eric, drunk and distressed, walks to Water Farm and sees Rita behaving strangely, just before a power cut plunges the area into darkness. At the school, Irene wakes in a dormitory and navigates her surroundings in the dark.

Rita, alone at the farm and tormented by auditory hallucinations, travels to Bristol. She visits her former workplace, the Pow-Wow Club, where she is thrown out by the wife of her ex-lover, Eugene. She seeks refuge with Gloria, who comforts her. Bill’s father gives him a briefcase containing £10,000 and handcuffs it to Bill’s wrist. Charlie, drunk, crashes his car while driving Bill back to Somerset. Injured, the brothers find their way to a railway line.

Eric goes to Alison’s house for a planned meeting, which turns out to be a trap. Frank confronts him with a longbow while their son smashes Eric’s car, a Citroën ID, with a cricket bat. Meanwhile, Irene is transported home by Boy Scouts on a sledge. Bill, now back at the farm, finds Rita standing barefoot and disoriented in the snow.

After Eric attends Stephen Storey’s funeral, Martin Lee gives him a box of handmade spinning tops for Rita. Eric and Irene now coexist in the cottage, sleeping separately. Eric considers taking a job in Antarctica to escape his circumstances.

Rita has a miscarriage, and Bill runs to the Parrys for help. Eric and Irene rush to the farm, and Eric arranges for a helicopter. While the men prepare to move Rita, Irene retrieves the miscarried fetus from the toilet, tenderly wrapping it in a flannel. Inside the helicopter, Rita hallucinates she is aboard a spaceship with Bill, Eric, and Irene, rising peacefully above the snow-covered landscape.