Article
Books about the four seasons: Perkins’ Recommended Reads
These books about the four seasons draw inspiration from winter, spring, summer, or fall.
Works that draw inspiration from winter, spring, summer, or fall.
The season of the year can play an integral part of the mood or plot of some fiction. This Recommended Reads list features novels in which the seasons of the year play a large role and provide important background for the story. People’s personalities and issues can be strongly affected by the season and its associated weather events. One example is the novel Snow by Orhan Pamuk (DB 58863). This title is a very poetic novel, and the constantly falling snow in Turkey provides a vivid backdrop to what the characters are going through.
In literature, writers can use seasons as symbols to express deeper ideas or themes. Thomas C. Foster in “How to Read Literature like a Professor” discusses how writers use different seasons in their work to convey meaning. I hope you enjoy these titles that portray a strong sense of “season.”
Digital book (DB), braille (BR), large print (LT), and audio described videos (DVD) copies of these titles are available from the Perkins Library or the Worcester Talking Book Library. Please contact the library to order any of these books.
Prepared by Linda Rossman
Reference Services Librarian
Perkins Library
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Against the glitter and recklessness of the Jazz Age, Jay Gatsby makes a desperate attempt to recapture the past and, along with it, the love of Daisy Buchanan. Amid extravagant parties at Gatsby’s palatial estate, his neighbor narrates the story of his obsession with the American dream. This critical edition draws on Fitzgerald’s original manuscript. 1925.
Download The Great Gatsby, DB 55714
Download Braille, The Great Gatsby, BR 22712
Inland
Téa Obreht
1893. Frontierswoman Nora waits for her husband and eldest sons to return to their Arizona Territory home. Meanwhile, her youngest son is convinced that a mysterious beast is stalking the land around their house. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.
Prodigal Summer
Barbara Kingsolver
At Zebulon Mountain in southern Appalachia, reclusive ranger Deanna Wolfe allows young hunter Eddie Bondo into her cabin and private space. In the valley two other women redefine their roles while championing ecological issues. Some explicit descriptions of sex and some strong language. Bestseller. 2000.
Download Prodigal Summer, DB 51048
Download Braille, Prodigal Summer, BR 15136
Summer
Edith Wharton
This novelette, about poor country people in New England, first published in 1917, deals with a young girl’s rebellion against the petty conventions of the cheerless town in which she lives. 1917.
Summer of My German Soldier
Bette Greene
Patty Bergen, a twelve-year-old Jewish girl living in Arkansas, is fascinated when a truckload of German POWs arrives to be imprisoned in her small Arkansas town. At her father’s store, Patty strikes up an acquaintance with one of the prisoners, Anton. But she is not prepared for the repercussions when Anton escapes and she hides him. For junior and senior high and older readers. 1973.
Download Summer of My German Soldier, DB 36625
Autumn
Ali Smith
When she was a child, Elisabeth met Daniel, a neighbor who introduced her to literature and art. Many years later, on the eve of the Brexit vote in England, Elisabeth visits the 101-year-old Daniel in a nursing home, where he dreams of his past. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2017.
Cider House Rules
John Irving
Set in rural Maine at the turn of the century, this is the story of Dr. Wilbur Larch, saint, obstetrician, orphanage director, ether addict, and abortionist. His medical practices are hindered and abetted by his favorite orphan, Homer Wells. The novel is based on documents left by the author’s physician grandfather. Strong language and explicit descriptions of sex. Bestseller 1985.
Download Cider House Rules, DB 21531
In the Fall
Jeffrey Lent
After serving in the Civil War, Norman Pelham returns home to Vermont with his African American bride, Leah. Some time later, following a visit to her North Carolina home, Leah hangs herself. Eventually, Leah’s grandson sets out to uncover the story of her tragic end. Strong language and some descriptions of sex. 2000.
Download In the Fall, DB 50270
Olive, Again
Elizabeth Strout
This collection of linked stories follows the cantankerous Olive Kitteridge as she struggles to understand not only herself and her own life, but the lives of those around her in her Maine hometown. Sequel to Olive Kitteridge (DB 67392). Some strong language. Commercial audiobook. 2019.
Download Olive, Again, DB 97052
Download Braille, Olive, Again, BR 22872
The Secret History
Donna Tartt
When Richard Papen is accepted at a small Vermont college, he gladly leaves his boring California identity behind. After he makes up an appropriate past, Richard is allowed to join an elite group of students who take all of their classes from one professor. Richard learns that the clique is hiding some odd secrets—and one deadly one. The members trust Richard, but they’re not so sure of one of their own. Strong language and violence. Bestseller. 1992.
Download The Secret History, DB 35868
The Witch Elm
Tana French
Happy-go-lucky charmer Toby surprises two burglars, who beat him and leave him for dead. Struggling to recover, he takes refuge at his family’s ancestral home to care for his dying uncle. When a skull is found in the trunk of an elm tree, Toby begins to question his past. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2018.
Download The Witch Elm, DB 92756
Download Braille, The Witch Elm, BR 22544
Mr. Dickens and His Carol
Samantha Silva
Depressed about the failure of his most recent book, feeling pressured by his publisher to write a Christmas book, and worried over his family’s financial stability, Charles Dickens seeks refuge in nightly walks. On one, he meets Eleanor Lovejoy, who takes him on a Scrooge-like journey. Commercial audiobook. 2017.
Download Mr. Dickens and His Carol, DB 87973
Smilla’s Sense of Snow
Peter Hoeg
When Isaiah, a six-year-old Inuit boy, is killed falling off the roof of a warehouse, his neighbor Smilla, a young woman who is generally misanthropic yet inclined to look out for Isaiah, refuses to believe it is an accident. Smilla begins her investigation in Copenhagen, where her powers of observation—sharpened by her fascination with mathematics—help her to solve the mystery. Violence and some strong language. 1993.
Download Smilla’s Sense of Snow, DB 37499
Snow
Orhan Pamuk
Poet Ka returns to Turkey after years of exile in Germany. While trying to rekindle romance with a childhood friend he investigates the suicide of several religious “head-scarf” girls. Meanwhile a blizzard cuts off the town and a military coup occurs. Some descriptions of sex and some violence. Bestseller. 2002.
Snow Falling on Cedars
David Guterson
Set on an island in Puget Sound shortly after World War II. Carl Heine has drowned, and Kabuo Miyomoto, a fellow fisherman, is charged with Heine’s murder. Covering the trial for the local newspaper is Ishmael Chambers, who was the first love of Hatsue, the defendant’s wife. As the trial gets under way, the courtroom and the entire once peaceful community are tense with suspicion and prejudice. Strong language and some descriptions of sex. 1994.
Download Snow Falling on Cedars, DB 40688
Download Braille, Snow Falling on Cedars, BR 11904
Winter Garden
Kristin Hannah
Sisters Meredith, a homebody, and Nina, a world-traveling photojournalist, reunite at their father’s deathbed along with Anya, their cold-hearted Russian mother. Anya promises her husband that she will tell the girls the story of her past in war- torn Leningrad. Strong language, some violence, and some explicit descriptions of sex. Commercial audiobook. 2010.
Download Winter Garden, DB 70583
Absent in Spring
Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie)
An Englishwoman is stranded for a week at a rest house in the desert. A remembered conversation with an old school friend starts her on an exploration of her past, and she experiences a vision of the truth that her “happy family life and successful career” were smug, hollow lies. 1944.
Download Absent in Spring, DB 31775
April in Paris
Michael Wallner
World War II, occupied France. Roth, a twenty-two-year-old German soldier, translates for the SS during interrogations of Resistance fighters. Off duty he roams Paris as “Antoine” and falls in love with bookseller’s daughter Chantal. Ignorance of each other’s true identity brings tragedy. Violence and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2006.
Download Braille, April in Paris, BR 17540
The Beginning of Spring
Penelope Fitzgerald
A comedy of manners set in Russia in 1913. Frank Reid comes home one day to find that his wife and three children have left. The next day the children return, but not his wife. That is not the only curiosity in Reid’s life–a drunken bear cub gets loose in his house, and there is a break-in at his printing business. In the meantime he must find someone to care for his children. Enter Lisa Ivanovna, who may become more than a governess. 1988.
Download The Beginning of Spring, DB 30345
The Enchanted April
Elizabeth Von Arnim
On a rainy February day in London, Mrs. Lotty Wilkins notices an ad in the Times for a small medieval Italian castle on the shores of the Mediterranean to be let for the month of April. A seed is planted in her mind, and soon she, along with three other women, find themselves on a holiday in Italy that will ultimately affect the lives of each one. 1922.
Download The Enchanted April, DB 46007
The Language of Flowers: A Novel
Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Eighteen-year-old Victoria Jones, abandoned as an infant, ages out of California’s foster-home system. Victoria’s only decent home was with Elizabeth, who taught Victoria to care for flowers. Victoria eventually finds work with a florist and meets Elizabeth’s nephew, Grant, who also speaks through flowers. Some strong language. 2011.
Download The Language of Flowers, DB 74148
March
Geraldine Brooks
Reverend March, the husband and father from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (DB 58830) leaves Connecticut to become an army chaplain during the Civil War. An assignment to teach freed slaves on a plantation changes March’s view of humanity while hardship hurts his family. Pulitzer Prize winner. Strong language and some violence. 2005.
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
Tennessee Williams
Mrs. Stone, former American actress, wealthy, middle-aged, and widowed, is biding her time in Rome when the Contessa, a female pimp, introduces her to Paolo, a handsome young gigolo. As the novel begins, Mrs. Stone laments her fading beauty and the end of her stage career. In part two she muses on the demise of her way of life and of her husband and enjoys her current affair. Finally, Mrs. Stone must deal with her attempt to replace real life with fantasy. 1950.
