The Wintry Years

by O. Douglas

The Wintry Years, Anna Buchan’s 13th book, was left unfinished at her death in 1948 with only a few chapters ever being published. This new edition contains three extra chapters found in the Buchan archive in the National Library of Scotland and a Conversation with Lady Stewartby, Anna Buchan’s great niece, speculating on what might have happened next.
It is set in the heart of the Scottish Borders as the Rutherfurds and the Jacksons from The Proper Place prepare to face another war.

163 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2019

About the author

Born Anna Masterton Buchan, younger sister to the statesman & prolific novelist John Buchan. She began writing in 1911, and published 12 novels and a personal memoir of her brother before her death. Her novels are humorous domestic fiction, focusing on the lives of families in Scotland. Her autobiography was published posthumously, in 1960.

Reviews

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfinished, and, as the interview at the end suggests, unedited - there would probably have been some tidying-up if it had been completed.

The usual tropes of novels set just at the beginning of WWII - the 'phoney war' period, evacuees, ungrateful mothers of evacuees, finding suitable war work for homebound women, etc. Plus return of various characters from her previous books.