An Age of Winters

Two months ago, Gemma Liviero‘s new novel An Age of Winters was released. It had been on my radar for some months, and I was excited to get it as an Amazon First Reads selection. I also was lucky to get the audiobook version from NetGalley, and with winter now upon us here in the northern hemisphere, it felt like the ideal time to dive in.

Why I Chose This Book:

An Age of Winters first captured my attention simply for its title and cover. I love anything cold, wintery, dark, and mysterious, and this book promised all of that and more. Its setting in 1625 Germany also drew me in; there’s something about historic settings that always alights my imagination, especially when taking place in other countries around the world. Add in witch hunts, small town crimes, and mystery, and I was hooked!

What I Liked:

• Backdrop of 1600s witch trials
• Setting in a small German village
• The themes of a harsh winter and how it affects the villagers (famine, plagues, and worries about divine punishment)
• Rumors and false accusations
• Unrequited love
• Discussions around marriage, childbirth, and power, especially for women
• Unreliable narrator
• Excerpts from the fictional The Witch Hunts—A History, published in 1633

Audiobook

Sarah Naughton does the main narration of An Age of Winters, offering Katarin’s first-person account of everything going on in the village of Eisbach. She gives the character just the right voice and inflections, making listeners feel assured in what she’s describing. My only complaint about the narration is how Sarah Naughton would frequently end sentences like a question, even when they weren’t. A bit distracting.

Alex Wyndham narrates the excerpts from The Witch Hunts—A History, a fictional account from eight years after the main events. His narration is perfect for the tone of that book’s fictional author, casting extra suspicion on everything.

Final Thoughts

An Age of Winters bewitches readers with its harsh winter setting amidst famine and danger, adding mistrust with all the villagers’ rumors and accusations. But as murders keep happening and whispers of witchcraft abound, the mystery slowly builds up to a shocking conclusion. This is the perfect read for anyone who enjoys stories of centuries-old witch hunts and trials, historical mysteries, and darker themes.

Special thanks to Brilliance Audio and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy An Age of Winters here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

An Age of Winters by Gemma Liviero
Audiobook Narrator	Sarah Naughton, Alex Wyndham
Audience	Adult
Genre	Historical Fiction; Historical Mystery
Setting	Germany
Number of Pages	10.3 hours
Format I Read	Audiobook (NetGalley ARC); Ebook (Amazon First Reads)
Original Publication Date	November 1, 2024
Publisher	Brilliance Audio; Lake Union Publishing

Official Summary

In the seventeenth century, witchfinders rule and paranoia thrives in a chilling novel about unrequited love, persecution, and betrayal by the bestselling author of The Road Beyond Ruin and Broken Angels.

In 1625, the Franconian village of Eisbach has been plagued by disease, famine, heinous crimes, and a merciless winter. Katarin Jaspers is the maidservant to the enigmatic Reverend Zacharias Engel, appointed by Rome to cure the village of suspected diabolism and save every God-fearing soul.

Zacharias soon finds his first witch, and the public burning of a local man could spell the end of misfortune. As a sense of peace settles over the village, Katarin finds herself increasingly infatuated with Zacharias, who is a disruption to her predictable existence and a balm for her cruel past. But peace for Katarin is short-lived. Margaretha Katz—the new midwife—is seen as a rival for the reverend’s attention. Fear and recrimination reach a fever pitch when a great tragedy sets the town fully on edge.

With the walls of winter closing in around Eisbach once again, rumours flourish and villagers turn on each other. Now, no one is safe from the pyre.