A cold season by Matthew Hooper
It’s a bitterly cold season on Mount Kosciusko, with two people lost in a storm, first Sam and then his father Owens gone in search of him. But it is not just the weather that is cold, it is an isolated lonely place where 14 year old Beth waits with her Mama and her older brother ‘Little Sasha’, Sam’s twin. They each go about their duties, collecting firewood, preparing meals, caring for the chickens and horses, with few words shared between them as they wait. Mama says Sam and Owens are dead, but Beth cannot give up hope.
Hooper brilliantly captures Beth’s voice, the tone and the singular grammar of a young teenager, as well as her inner thoughts and fears. She is afraid of the harsh and unpredictable anger that springs from Mama, and is certain that for some reason Mama hates her. The reader is left wondering if the friction between them is the inevitable conflict between parent and teenage or whether there is some hidden reason that Mama seems to turn on Beth.
There seems to be undercurrents of tension that Beth is caught up in and struggles to understand, an adult world of suppressed emotions and secrets that she slowly starts to piece together: why her brother Sam left in the storm, and why the outlaw Wallace keeps coming around. Growing from a position of powerlessness, Beth stubbornly asserts her own personality and independence.
The mood of this book is so intriguing, a mix of smouldering silence and unacknowledged pressures that build until the explosive ending. Seen through the eyes of Beth we understand that each of the characters has their own story just outside of our understanding. Hooper has promised a prequel to this book that explores the story of enigmatic returned soldier Owens. I am so curious about his character that I will be grabbing that book as soon as it’s released.
A cold season is an outstanding debut novel, suitable for both teenagers and adults. Highly recommended.
Themes: Loss, Grief, Abuse, Resistance, Self-assertion, Independence.
Helen Eddy