Published in 2021
260 pages
Gigi Fenster has a Masters and PhD in Creative Writing and various law degrees. Her first book, The Intentions Book, was a finalist in the New Zealand Post Book Awards and was longlisted for the Commonwealth Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Award. Her second book, Feverish was published in 2018 to critical acclaim. Her novel, A Good Winter won the 2020 Gifkins Prize.
Gigi teaches Creative Writing at Massey University and offers creative writing workshops. She was a founder member of the Write Where You Are Trust, which provides creative writing in prisons. She also teaches contract law. Gigi has two daughters. She lives on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand with her partner, a flock of chickens and way too many cats.
What is this book about?
I looked after Lara. We both looked after Sophie and her baby. We had to. It’s not like Sophie was going to look after that baby herself. All she was interested in was weeping and wailing for her dead husband. She was so busy weeping and wailing for her dead husband that she rejected his baby who was right in front of her.
When Olga’s friend Lara becomes a grandmother, Olga helps out whenever she can. After all, it’s a big imposition on Lara, looking after her bereaved daughter and the baby. And the new mother is not exactly considerate. But smoldering beneath Olga’s sensible support and loving generosity is a deep jealous need to be the centre of Lara’s attention and affection—a need that soon becomes a consuming, dangerous and ultimately tragic obsession.
Gigi Fenster’s A Good Winter is an enthralling psychological thriller, a dark and complex portrait of a troubled mind.
