Transgressive Love in a Cold New Climate*
Review of the Weatherglass Books paperback edition (April 2021)

I'll confess that I started Cold New Climate back in late April 2021 when I received it as the Book of the Month from my Republic of Consciousness subscription. I did however put it aside then after only a few dozen pages. The reason at the time was that I wasn't enjoying the protagonist character Lydia who had asked to take a break from her older partner Tom to go off to Greece in what seemed like a completely selfish and self-centred way. To her regretful later horror, she has a one-night stand with an emetophiliac (no, I'm not going to link or help to define that, you'll just have to look it up. Warning, it will be to your regret). It seemed as if the author didn't like the character either and was punishing her right off the bat. Anyway, I decided I wasn't interested in continuing.

But, a few months later, I looked again at my TBR pile and the cover blurb "A miracle in book form" from author Toby Litt (whose Patience (2019) I had really enjoyed) made me take a second look. I ended up being totally absorbed by it and caught up in Lydia's (35ish years of age?)and Caleb's (19-years of age) liaison, relationship, and later life. The book makes a rather startling late leap (mild spoiler) into the future which even imagines their lives 30? years or so down the road, this jump also pays off the hints of cli-fi and environmental issues from earlier in the book.

This book is the 1st publication by the new publisher Weatherglass Books, and their future list looks intriguing as well. Interestingly, the novel was a commission based on the reading of the author's only other book, a slim set of short stories Winter Strangers (2019) which I ordered immediately. What a payoff and kickoff for this new publishing venture!

I read Cold New Climate as the April 2021 selection from the Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month (BotM) club. Subscriptions to the BotM support the annual Republic of Consciousness Prize for small independent publishers.

Other Reviews
Right in the grey area by Lamorna Ash, Times Literary Supplement, June 11, 2021.
A Confident Pleasurable Debut by Lara Feigel, The Guardian, April 29, 2021.
Lose Your Delusions by David Collard, Literary Review, June 2021.

Trivia and Links
Q&A with Isobel Wohl at Writers Rebel, April 1, 2021.
An Interview with Isobel Wohl at the Weatherglass Books Blog, April 16, 2021.

*It was low hanging fruit, so I couldn't resist riffing on the title of Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate (1949) for my lede. ( )