Beautiful prose with no context
Book Review: Fireflies in Winter by Eleanor Shearer
Fireflies in Winter by Eleanor Shearer
Published: February 10, 2026 by Berkley
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Synopsis:
1796. Cora, an orphan newly arrived from Jamaica, has never felt cold like this. In the depths of winter, everyone in her community huddles together in their homes to keep warm. So when she sees a shadow slipping through the trees, Cora thinks her eyes are deceiving her. Until she creeps out into the moonlight and finds the tracks in the snow.
Agnes is in hiding. On the run from her former life, she has learned what it takes to survive alone in the wilderness. But she can afford no mistakes. When she first spies the young woman in the woods, she is afraid. Yet Cora is fearless, and their paths are destined to cross.
Deep amongst the cedars, Cora and Agnes find a fragile place of safety. But when Agnes’s past closes in, they are confronted with the dangerous price of freedom—and of love....
Rating:
Review:
Before reading this book, I highly recommend reading the author’s note. This is a heavy book that deals with heavy topics. There are lots of potentially triggering topics, so take care if you plan on reading.
I wanted to enjoy this book, because the synopsis made the premise sound fascinating and compelling. The buzz surrounding this book was widespread and I saw positive reviews of it constantly. So, my expectations on opening the cover were high. The prose in this novel is beautiful and thoughtful. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much else of substance.
There was a lot of information dumping and it got boring. I wanted more context on the Maroons in Jamaica, but I didn’t get it. Interestingly the author mentions that she didn’t know a lot about the Maroons either when she began writing. Which is where the problem occurred. She wanted to show us all the interesting things she learned, and so she did. But because it was new information for her also she couldn’t present it in a way that didn’t sound like a Wikipedia page. This could have been a huge world building opportunity, but it passed us by.
The rest of the plot was sparse and didn’t grab my attention. It started to pick up pace in the latter half of the book but by then my attention was too far gone. This is a books with great ideas and great bones, but failed to tell a compelling story.