This Winter (solitaire, #0.5)

This Winter is a novella by Alice Oseman set on Christmas Day and told from the perspectives of three siblings in the Spring family.

The novella opens from Tori Spring's perspective. The 16-year-old is woken at six in the morning by her seven-year-old brother, Oliver, who bursts into her room with a musical Christmas card. She reflects that Oliver seems nothing like her or her 15-year-old brother, Charlie, since Oliver radiates joy while she and Charlie are perpetually gloomy. Charlie soon appears at her door, tired but smiling, and the three siblings settle on Tori's bed, listening to hymns on the radio while they wait until 7:30 to wake their parents.

Tori provides essential backstory: Charlie has anorexia, which worsened in recent months and triggered a self-harm relapse in October. He spent several weeks at a psychiatric ward for teenagers with eating disorders. The stay helped, but recovery remains difficult. Tori blames herself for not alerting her parents sooner when she first noticed something was wrong. She notes that Christmas is especially stressful for people with eating disorders because of how central food is to the day, and resolves that the day should be about supporting Charlie.

After the family opens presents, extended relatives fill the house for Christmas dinner. At the kids' table, their 20-year-old cousin Clara peppers Charlie with questions about his boyfriend, Nick. Charlie grows visibly uncomfortable, glancing toward their grandparents, whom he has not come out to because they may hold anti-gay views. Tori notices Charlie has eaten some of his plate, a good sign, though their father's attentive hovering draws the very scrutiny Charlie wants to avoid.

After dinner, Uncle Ant, their father's brother, asks Charlie about the psychiatric ward, invoking stereotypes about "white walls and straitjackets" (38). Aunt Jules declares they are all glad Charlie is better, reflecting the family's misunderstanding that mental illness can be quickly resolved. Tori corrects Aunt Jules's use of "mental hospital," saying "psychiatric ward" (29). Charlie, looking nauseated, leaves the room.

Tori follows and overhears their mother and Charlie arguing in the kitchen. Their mother accuses Charlie of being immature and wanting attention. Charlie fires back that she alternates between refusing to acknowledge his mental illness and making him feel unwanted. She shouts at him to get out.

Charlie tells Tori he is leaving for Nick's house. She pleads with him to stay, but he bitterly calls himself "the joke of the family" (43) and says the winter has been terrible. Tori asks if he can at least spend Christmas with her, and Charlie snaps that Nick treats him as something other than "fucking mentally ill" (44). Tori quietly says she does too, but her voice trails off. Charlie apologizes and walks out into the rain. Tori confronts their mother, who insists she is trying her best. Tori sits alone in the porch, reflecting that she has tried to support Charlie by sitting with him at meals and being his friend as well as his sister, but none of it feels like enough.

The narrative shifts to Charlie's perspective, presented partly through text messages with Nick and partly through internal monologue. Charlie's narration reveals his guilt and self-awareness. He acknowledges that Tori is the most genuinely helpful person in his family, neither pestering him nor avoiding the issue. He reflects on his time in the psychiatric ward, explaining that it was exactly what he needed: He started therapy with a therapist named Geoff, met other young people with eating disorders, and learned that his coping mechanisms, including restrictive eating and self-harm, are responses to underlying emotional pain. Recovery involves addressing those root causes rather than simply stopping the behaviors.

Charlie arrives at Nick's house drenched from rain. They embrace, and when Nick asks if he is okay, Charlie starts crying. Nick pulls out a handkerchief, a Christmas gift from his grandmother, and the absurdity of it makes Charlie laugh. They kiss, and Nick's family discovers them and warmly asks to be introduced. Charlie spends time with Nick's large, welcoming extended family, none of whom ask awkward questions about his mental health. He and Nick exchange gifts and play games with Nick's relatives.

While Nick is briefly away, his older brother David, a university student Charlie describes as self-absorbed, corners Charlie in the kitchen. David asks if Charlie is "all cured" (64), calls the ward a "mental hospital" (65), and makes ignorant comments about eating disorders. Charlie pushes back, but David talks over him. Nick returns, overhears, and angrily confronts his brother. Charlie reflects on Geoff's observation that most people either ignore mental illness entirely or treat the person as strange and fascinating; the "middle ground" (78) of simply being present and supportive is rare, and both Nick and Tori excel at it.

Later, Charlie discovers a series of increasingly urgent texts from Tori asking when he is coming home, with the final message announcing she is walking to Nick's house herself. Nick encourages Charlie to talk before he leaves. Charlie opens up about the arguments, the sleeplessness, and his desire for a normal Christmas. He admits that even though he managed dinner well, he felt everyone was watching and waiting for him to fail. Nick observes that Charlie's parents may have also been trying to pretend Christmas could be normal, and asks whether Charlie told them he would need extra support. Charlie realizes he did not. Nick tells him that his fear of being a burden keeps him from asking for help, but people around him would support him if he spoke up.

Tori arrives in the doorway, drenched and out of breath. She tells Charlie he needs to come home: Their father is upset, Oliver is in a bad mood, and their mother may be willing to apologize. Charlie sits beside her on the sofa and puts his arms around her. They exchange brief apologies. Charlie tells Tori he is going to try harder to communicate when he needs help and to explain what kind of help he needs. Tori says softly that she thinks that would be good. They share a moment of levity, joking about their cousins and their grandfathers' annual argument.

The final section shifts to Oliver's perspective. Alone and confused after both siblings left, he plays Mario Kart by himself and finds it boring. His mother sits beside him and explains that Charlie was upset. Oliver asks if Charlie's mental illness caused the upset; his mother says it is part of it and that recovery takes time. She then admits she said some unkind things to Charlie, and she looks genuinely sad, something Oliver has never seen in her before. He hugs her and tells her she should say sorry. She smiles and agrees.

Charlie and Tori return soaked from the rain. Oliver runs to Charlie, who picks him up and carries him into the lounge. Charlie then goes to their mother and hugs her, and the two retreat to the kitchen to talk privately. Oliver sits with Tori and tells her that everything is better when all three of them are together. He makes her promise that next time they leave, they will tell him first and promise to come back. Tori promises. The novella ends with Oliver and Tori playing Mario Kart while Charlie and their mother talk in the kitchen, a tentative but hopeful moment of reconciliation on a difficult Christmas Day.