Synopses & Reviews
On the verge of giving up—anchored to dreams that never came true and to people who have long since disappeared from their lives—Van Booy's characters walk the streets of these stark and beautiful stories until chance meetings with strangers force them to face responsibility for lives they thought had continued on without them.
Review
“Pitch-perfect…. Convincingly shows how love rights the world.” Kirkus Reviews
Review
“Love Begins in Winter” brings to life the wistfulness of youth and the possibilities of young love with clear and graceful prose.” Jamie Saul, author of Light of Day
Review
“Beautiful...each of these stories has moments of sheer loveliness.” Publishers Weekly
Review
“Simon Van Booy seems to start with a story in mind and then to turn it into a poem without losing its narrative power. Love Begins in Winter is an exquisite show of force.” Roger Rosenblatt, author of Lapham Rising and Beet
Review
“Simon Van Booy knows a great deal about the complex longings of the human heart, and he articulates those truths in his stories with pitch-perfect elegance. Love Begins in Winter is a splendid collection, and Van Booy is now a writer on my must-always-read list.” Robert Olen Butler, Pulitizer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain and Severance
Review
“The stories of Love Begins in Winter are stylistically brilliant and emotionally beautiful. I found myself gasping, literally gasping, at surprises so perfectly attuned as to be inevitable. Simon Van Booy is an extraordinary writer, and this is a book to be read and reread again and again.” Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of The Scenic Route
About the Author
Simon Van Booy grew up in rural Wales. He is the author of The Secret Lives of People in Love and Love Begins in Winter, which won the Frank OConnor International Short Story Award. He is the editor of three philosophy books, titled Why We Fight, Why We Need Love, and Why Our Decisions Dont Matter, and his essays have appeared in the New York Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Guardian, and on NPR. He lives in New York City, where he teaches at the School of Visual Arts and is involved in the Rutgers Early College Humanities program for young adults living in underserved communities. He was a finalist for the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise, and his work has been translated into thirteen different languages.