This review is written with thanks to HQ Digital for my copy of Ours Is The Winter via Netgalley.

Blurb:

Journeying across the Arctic, their pasts are about to catch up with them.

Erica, Molly and Noah are embarking on the challenge of a lifetime, driving Siberian huskies across the frozen wilderness of the Arctic. Cut off from the world and their loved ones and thrown together under gruelling conditions, it isn’t long before the cracks start to show.

Erica has it all. A loving husband, a successful career and the most adorable baby daughter. But Erica has been living a double life, and as she nears her fortieth birthday her lies threaten to come crashing down.

Molly was on her way to stardom. But when her brother died, so did her dreams of becoming an Olympic champion. Consumed by rage and grief, she has shut out everyone around her, but now she’s about to learn that comfort can come from the most unexpected places.

Noah has a darkness inside him and is hounded by nightmares from his past. Tortured, trapped and struggling to save his fractured relationship, he knows this journey is not going to help, but try telling his girlfriend that.

As their lives and lies become ever more entwined, it becomes clear that in the frozen wilds there is nowhere to hide.

Review:

At the very beginning of Ours Is The Winter, we can see the itinerary for the trip that forms the basis of the novel. I’ll be honest and say that it didn’t look like the kind of expedition I’d want to try myself, but as soon as the characters landed in the Arctic, I was transported there. I could see the snow and feel the cold and became immersed in the challenge.

Ours Is The Winter focuses mostly on three characters: Erica, Molly and Noah. The chapters were written from their perspective and this really helped me to get to know them. There were aspects of all of them with which I could empathise and I appreciated the way that Ellingham explored a large number of issues through them. I became really invested in their stories and really wanted them to find the answers they were looking for.

The ending of Ours Is The Winter, in particular, is very emotional and definitely tugged on my cold heartstrings! This novel was quite different to what I expected, but I still took a great deal from it.

Ours Is The Winter is available from Amazon.