Fireflies in Winter: A breathtaking novel of survival, hope and the enduring power of love from the author of River Sing Me Home

This novel is set in Nova Scotia at the end of the 18th century when slavery is part and parcel of life in many parts of the world. Cora has recently arrived from Jamaica, along with a large group of fellow countrymen. Agnes is on the run from her previous life, surviving alone in the wilderness. When Cora sees a shadowy figure in the woods and footprints in the snow, their paths are destined to cross.

There was a lot to like about this book. For me, the real highlight was the exceptional portrayal of emotions, sensations, feeling and thoughts – the author had a real understanding which was sensitive, intuitive and profound and also had the skill to translate them into the written word. Not an easy thing to do. I felt the cold, experienced the tension during arguments and knew what the people were thinking, even when the character themselves probably couldn’t have expressed it in words.
I found the storyline quite gripping and I thought the various relationships were all handled well – the developing bond between Cora and Agnes, and the existing relationships between Cora and Silas, Leah and Benjamin.
The trial, which was interspersed into the book at various points without any details given, leant an air of mystery to proceedings and this worked very well. The book gave me a real sense of the horrors of slavery without going into too much lurid detail.
Despite being a novel, the book was interwoven around real-life events and I learnt quite a lot about slavery, indenture and Maroons (see below for my issues with the way some of these were handled).

There were however a few minor niggles.
Firstly, I had no idea what Maroons were and I strongly suspect I am not the only one. The author either assumed (wrongly in my view) that it was a common term that most people would understand or decided to ignore this in order to add suspense to the storyline because the meaning of the word was only revealed in dribs and drabs as the book proceeded. Without this knowledge, much of the early part of the book didn’t really make sense as readers were left in the dark about the context of the characters within society. I found this very irritating.
In a similar vein (probably stemming entirely from my own ignorance of the terms associated with this period in history and which may well not have been an issue for other readers), Thursday described his situation as being a long-term unbreakable contract with Farmer Nash which he had taken voluntarily in place of his mother in order to allow her to return home. This meant that he was not free to leave. Yet midway through the book he describes himself as “free”. I managed to resolve this one by looking it up on the internet, albeit with some difficulty as I didn’t have the vocabulary to describe what I wanted to know. The result is that I now understand the difference between slavery and indenture and also realise that “free” is/was a very specific term, only used in relation to slavery and that somebody who is unable to make their own decisions as a result of indenture is nonetheless technically “free”. I am sure I really should have known this and am almost ashamed to admit iths glaring example of my ignorance.
Lastly, and I suspect/hope that this is simply a mistake which should really have been picked up by proof readers, there are two occasion when whales are seen in close proximity. Both times, in order to describe to the reader how close they really are, the narrator says something along the lines of “so close that you could see the trails of seaweed hanging off the barnacles on their skin”. A different description second time round would definitely have had more impact and avoided unnecessary repetition.

Overall I would definitely recommend this book. It is an easy read yet has some profound insights and is set during an interesting time of history. I will definitely be looking out for other books by this author.