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A Cold Season
Set between the wars, A Cold Season is rich in voice, character and landscape.
It follows the story of fourteen-year-old Beth, who is also the narrator. Beth’s brother Sam and her father Owens have gone missing in a freak winter storm. In a small house in the foothills of Mount Kosciusko, Beth is stuck with her mother and her other brother, Little Sasha. They are waiting and longing for Sam and Owens to return. In what threatens to become an emotional and physical pressure cooker tensions flare, and to make matters worse Mama is seeing the local bad man, Wallace.
Matthew Hooper’s stunning debut expresses how people deal differently with absence and hope. It is a story of finding agency in a world where people, and particularly the young, are often powerless. As Beth plays with language to reclaim her spirit and family, A Cold Season emerges as unforgettable – a novel that captures rural poverty and human capacity with true soul.
‘Matthew Hooper is a powerful new voice in Australian literature. A Cold Season is both epic and intimate at the same time. This is dramatic, lyrical writing at its best; deeply felt and deeply moving. A work of art that is also a page-turner. An instant classic.’ – Antoni Jach, author of Travelling Companions
It follows the story of fourteen-year-old Beth, who is also the narrator. Beth’s brother Sam and her father Owens have gone missing in a freak winter storm. In a small house in the foothills of Mount Kosciusko, Beth is stuck with her mother and her other brother, Little Sasha. They are waiting and longing for Sam and Owens to return. In what threatens to become an emotional and physical pressure cooker tensions flare, and to make matters worse Mama is seeing the local bad man, Wallace.
Matthew Hooper’s stunning debut expresses how people deal differently with absence and hope. It is a story of finding agency in a world where people, and particularly the young, are often powerless. As Beth plays with language to reclaim her spirit and family, A Cold Season emerges as unforgettable – a novel that captures rural poverty and human capacity with true soul.
‘Matthew Hooper is a powerful new voice in Australian literature. A Cold Season is both epic and intimate at the same time. This is dramatic, lyrical writing at its best; deeply felt and deeply moving. A work of art that is also a page-turner. An instant classic.’ – Antoni Jach, author of Travelling Companions
- GenresAustralia
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 3, 2025
Set between the wars in and around a small house in the foothills of Mount Kosciusko, A Cold Season, is a beautiful debut novel.
During the depths of this particularly harsh winter Sam and his father Owens go missing on the mountain. Fourteen-year-old Beth, the brilliant narrator of the novel, is left with brother Sasha (Sam's twin) and her mother, waiting and longing as they survive the harsh living conditions and the local "bad man" Wallace.
I was so impressed with Hooper's ability in capturing the times, the hardships, the characters, but most of all the landscape through the voice of Beth. This is a richly told debut and I hope there is more to come from this author.
During the depths of this particularly harsh winter Sam and his father Owens go missing on the mountain. Fourteen-year-old Beth, the brilliant narrator of the novel, is left with brother Sasha (Sam's twin) and her mother, waiting and longing as they survive the harsh living conditions and the local "bad man" Wallace.
I was so impressed with Hooper's ability in capturing the times, the hardships, the characters, but most of all the landscape through the voice of Beth. This is a richly told debut and I hope there is more to come from this author.
November 3, 2024
A Cold Season is the searing debut novel from Australian author Matthew Hooper. It is a heart-rending story of loss and grief set during a freezing post WWI winter in a small house in the foothills of Mt Kosciusko.
The narrator is 14 year-old Beth as she retells what happened the year her 17 year-old brother Sam went missing. Sam was trekking the hills above their property when a storm came through and trapped him on the mountain. Their father, Owens, leaves to find him and also becomes trapped in the winter storm.
As they wait for Sam and Owens to return Beth's mother Grace, convinced they will never return, finds solace in the local outlaw, Wallace.
Her burden of grief turns to anger and she blocks out Beth's brother Sasha and lashes out at Beth.
Matthew Hooper never lets the reader forget how bitterly cold and harsh the climate is.
The use of prose that are both lyrical and illiterate portray an uneducated narrator as Beth tells the story in her own words.
A Cold Season is a deeply felt story about how grief is managed in different ways. It is a story filled with sorrow and love and hate, and a sadness that is all consuming.
I'd love to see it on the big screen one day.
The narrator is 14 year-old Beth as she retells what happened the year her 17 year-old brother Sam went missing. Sam was trekking the hills above their property when a storm came through and trapped him on the mountain. Their father, Owens, leaves to find him and also becomes trapped in the winter storm.
As they wait for Sam and Owens to return Beth's mother Grace, convinced they will never return, finds solace in the local outlaw, Wallace.
Her burden of grief turns to anger and she blocks out Beth's brother Sasha and lashes out at Beth.
Matthew Hooper never lets the reader forget how bitterly cold and harsh the climate is.
"I felt colder, like my clothes was not working and the mountain's cold was right inside me, making me shiver and shake and rub my knees."
The use of prose that are both lyrical and illiterate portray an uneducated narrator as Beth tells the story in her own words.
"But mostly we was thinking about Owens and Sam, ........ and we was both filled to the brim with upset and worry what sat in our stomachs like heavy stones submerged in dark sorrow-water what filled us up."
A Cold Season is a deeply felt story about how grief is managed in different ways. It is a story filled with sorrow and love and hate, and a sadness that is all consuming.
I'd love to see it on the big screen one day.
January 27, 2025
Picked this book up at random at the library and was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It took a little while to get into it, but once I did I was hooked. I would recommend this book to others.
October 6, 2024
As usual I was reading two books at once, when I read Matthew Hooper's debut novel A Cold Season, and so his evocation of the bitter cold in the Australian Alps was supplemented by the images from Townsend of the Ranges by Peter Crowley. Crowley's book is a biography of the 19th century surveyor Thomas Scott Townsend (1812–1869) and his vivid descriptions of the snow-covered Alpine wilderness confirmed the authenticity of Hooper's setting. As The Offspring can testify after being caught in a blizzard during a school hiking trip in December (i.e. early summer), the weather there can be unexpectedly brutal. And it is brutal indeed in Hooper's novel...
Narrated by fourteen-year-old Beth, the story is set in the foothills of Mt Kosciuszko between the wars. This time setting amplifies the isolation of the family, eking out a hardscrabble existence at some distance from the nearest town or any neighbours. They have no means of communication when help is needed, other than walking or riding to ask for it. Beth does not go to school; like her older twin brothers Sam and Sasha, she works on the farm. Their only entertainment is playing backgammon.
When the novel opens, it is winter. Beth is at home with her mother Grace and Sasha, waiting on the return of Sam who went missing up the mountain during a freak storm. Her father Owens has gone to search for him, and it is feared that he is lost in the storm too. There is no supportive community to set out in a search party; they are alone in their trouble.
But no, this is not a loving family that comes together in a crisis. Beth does not know why Sam took off alone, nor does she understand Grace's deep hostility towards her, which erupts sometimes into harrowing violence. Her ambivalent relationship with a local outlaw called Wallace is unclear to start with too, but Grace recognises the threat to her children, and — in one of the most harrowing scenes in the novel — they witness Wallace raiding their house from the hideout she built to protect them when she goes into town without them. Beth also witnesses the birth of a baby that might not be her father's. She gets few answers to her questions, doubts and confusions other than Sasha's efforts to calm the household, but he's only a teenager too, and the disappearance of his twin brings a profound sense of loss which he struggles to master as well.
A Cold Season is a character-driven novel, and the characterisation of a fourteen-year-old girl in circumstances such as these is masterfully done.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/10/06/a...
Narrated by fourteen-year-old Beth, the story is set in the foothills of Mt Kosciuszko between the wars. This time setting amplifies the isolation of the family, eking out a hardscrabble existence at some distance from the nearest town or any neighbours. They have no means of communication when help is needed, other than walking or riding to ask for it. Beth does not go to school; like her older twin brothers Sam and Sasha, she works on the farm. Their only entertainment is playing backgammon.
When the novel opens, it is winter. Beth is at home with her mother Grace and Sasha, waiting on the return of Sam who went missing up the mountain during a freak storm. Her father Owens has gone to search for him, and it is feared that he is lost in the storm too. There is no supportive community to set out in a search party; they are alone in their trouble.
But no, this is not a loving family that comes together in a crisis. Beth does not know why Sam took off alone, nor does she understand Grace's deep hostility towards her, which erupts sometimes into harrowing violence. Her ambivalent relationship with a local outlaw called Wallace is unclear to start with too, but Grace recognises the threat to her children, and — in one of the most harrowing scenes in the novel — they witness Wallace raiding their house from the hideout she built to protect them when she goes into town without them. Beth also witnesses the birth of a baby that might not be her father's. She gets few answers to her questions, doubts and confusions other than Sasha's efforts to calm the household, but he's only a teenager too, and the disappearance of his twin brings a profound sense of loss which he struggles to master as well.
A Cold Season is a character-driven novel, and the characterisation of a fourteen-year-old girl in circumstances such as these is masterfully done.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/10/06/a...
October 23, 2024
In a stunning and unforgettable debut novel A Cold Season, Matthew Hooper captures the immensity of desperation and survival in a world of never ending hardship, through the narration of Beth, who is mourning the loss of her brother Sam and father Owen.
Living in a small cabin on what appears to be a subsistence farm, Beth and her mother struggle to keep the peace as they, each in their own way, live in hope that Sam and Owen will return home, each knowing full well they have been caught in a snow storm up in the high country. Little Sasha, the older brother is at times Beth’s only salvation from the rage and hurt inflicted by her mother.
Wallace, known as an outlaw in their little town, has a hold over Beth’s mother Grace, which is not a good one, as Beth has been warned never to be alone with him. As the days pass eventually comes the thaw with the return of Owen, but sadly not Sam, which once again changes the family dynamic.
The retrieval of Sam, becomes an issue, but Beth is firm in her desire to go to Sam, to see that he really is lost to her, which once again causes distention with her mother.
Hooper’s carefully scripted description of the journey is unforgettable, as it the time spent at the Cabin; Sam’s body lying outside frozen in endless slumber. Discussion as to the best way of bringing him down is earthy, real and heartbreaking.
Beth slowly begins to gain courage and perspective with the support of her father and when tragedy strikes again, she discovers a strength she never expected, fighting back in a blunt but very understandable manner. Talking through the tragic events with Owen sees Beth understand that sometimes life is not fair, just life!
Set between the First and Second World Wars, when times were hard, life is captured in stark clarity, with a sparsity of word that portrays the lack of education and immense vulnerability of children born into a life of hardship.
A Cold Season is, outstanding, unforgettable and certainly a classic in the making.
Living in a small cabin on what appears to be a subsistence farm, Beth and her mother struggle to keep the peace as they, each in their own way, live in hope that Sam and Owen will return home, each knowing full well they have been caught in a snow storm up in the high country. Little Sasha, the older brother is at times Beth’s only salvation from the rage and hurt inflicted by her mother.
Wallace, known as an outlaw in their little town, has a hold over Beth’s mother Grace, which is not a good one, as Beth has been warned never to be alone with him. As the days pass eventually comes the thaw with the return of Owen, but sadly not Sam, which once again changes the family dynamic.
The retrieval of Sam, becomes an issue, but Beth is firm in her desire to go to Sam, to see that he really is lost to her, which once again causes distention with her mother.
Hooper’s carefully scripted description of the journey is unforgettable, as it the time spent at the Cabin; Sam’s body lying outside frozen in endless slumber. Discussion as to the best way of bringing him down is earthy, real and heartbreaking.
Beth slowly begins to gain courage and perspective with the support of her father and when tragedy strikes again, she discovers a strength she never expected, fighting back in a blunt but very understandable manner. Talking through the tragic events with Owen sees Beth understand that sometimes life is not fair, just life!
Set between the First and Second World Wars, when times were hard, life is captured in stark clarity, with a sparsity of word that portrays the lack of education and immense vulnerability of children born into a life of hardship.
A Cold Season is, outstanding, unforgettable and certainly a classic in the making.
October 3, 2024
Raw emotion and an eerily claustrophobic setting set the scene for A Cold Season, the new-release debut novel from author, Matthew Hooper.
In the snow driven depths of winter, a family is faced with a much-loved family member’s death. Accusations and grief, sit alongside love and guilt as they reconcile the tragedy and try to find a way retrieve his body from the mountain .
Told through the eyes of fourteen year old Beth, the narrative is almost dystopian in tone and brevity. Beth’s solitary POV cuts to the quick, and we ride the gamut of emotions as she tries to make sense of the loss of her brother, as the family slowly dissembles around her. There is a poignant intimacy in Beth’s narrative. Her confusion and anger is propelled by her loss, and although on the cusp of adulthood, she views her surroundings through innocent eyes. Regret lurks like another character in the background, as does the dark outlaw Wallace with his menace ever present. He is of particular concern to Beth, and her awakening innocence.
While the family navigate grief and comes to terms with the reality of Sam’s death, Beth tries to both comprehend the extent of their suffering, and find her place within the shifting family dynamic.
Although not my usual genre, this dark brooding drama full of grief and tension is a beautifully constructed and succinctly written tribute to one family’s love, and what must be endured in times of great hardship.
Thanks to Transit Lounge for a reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
In the snow driven depths of winter, a family is faced with a much-loved family member’s death. Accusations and grief, sit alongside love and guilt as they reconcile the tragedy and try to find a way retrieve his body from the mountain .
Told through the eyes of fourteen year old Beth, the narrative is almost dystopian in tone and brevity. Beth’s solitary POV cuts to the quick, and we ride the gamut of emotions as she tries to make sense of the loss of her brother, as the family slowly dissembles around her. There is a poignant intimacy in Beth’s narrative. Her confusion and anger is propelled by her loss, and although on the cusp of adulthood, she views her surroundings through innocent eyes. Regret lurks like another character in the background, as does the dark outlaw Wallace with his menace ever present. He is of particular concern to Beth, and her awakening innocence.
While the family navigate grief and comes to terms with the reality of Sam’s death, Beth tries to both comprehend the extent of their suffering, and find her place within the shifting family dynamic.
Although not my usual genre, this dark brooding drama full of grief and tension is a beautifully constructed and succinctly written tribute to one family’s love, and what must be endured in times of great hardship.
Thanks to Transit Lounge for a reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
February 16, 2026
Took a bit of getting into but beautifully written
March 17, 2025
A good, gentle story. Beautifully written. The cold comes through the pages. Beth is wonderfully written - her limited understanding of the events taking place and the actions of her parents. A little slow in parts, but that just accentuated the "locked in" feeling of enduring a cold winter in the high country.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews