A spell of winter

Bestselling author Helen Dunmore's third novel, A Spell of Winter won the 1996 Orange Prize. Catherine and her brother, Rob, don't know why they have been abandoned by their parents.

Incarcerated in the enormous country house of their grandfather - 'the man from nowhere' - they create a refuge against their family's dark secrets, and against the outside world as it moves towards the First World War.

As time passes, their sibling love deepens and crosses into forbidden territory.

But they are not as alone in the house as they believe ...'A marvellous novel about forbidden passions and the terrible consequences of thwarted love. Dunmore is one of the finest English writers' Daily Mail 'A hugely involving story which often stops you in your tracks with the beauty of its writing' Observer 'An electrifying and original talent, a writer whose style is characterized by a lyrical, dreamy intensity' Guardian Helen Dunmore has published eleven novels with Penguin: Zennor in Darkness , which won the McKitterick Prize; Burning Bright; A Spell of Winter, which won the Orange Prize; Talking to the Dead; Your Blue-Eyed Boy; With Your Crooked Heart; The Siege, which was shortlisted for the 2001 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award and for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2002; Mourning Ruby; House of Orphan; Counting the Stars and The Betrayal, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010.

She is also a poet, children's novelist and short-story writer.