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Fireflies in Winter

Author Eleanor Shearer
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Audio | Penguin Audio
On sale Feb 10, 2026 | 11 Hours and 0 Minutes | 9798217282449
Grades 9-12
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A gripping novel of two young women fighting for survival on the edge of the wilderness, and the love that simultaneously sustains them and threatens their very existence, from the author of the Good Morning America Book Club pick River Sing Me Home.

Nova Scotia, 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 among 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....

With evocative prose and immersive storytelling, Fireflies in Winter is a powerful novel about love—love for the wilderness in all its unforgiving beauty, and love between two women who risk everything to be together.
© Lucinda Douglas-Menzies
Eleanor Shearer is a mixed-race writer and the granddaughter of Windrush generation immigrants. She splits her time between London and Ramsgate on the English coast so that she never has to go too long without seeing the sea. For her Master's degree in Politics at the University of Oxford, Eleanor studied the legacy of slavery and the case for reparations, and her fieldwork in St. Lucia and Barbados helped inspire her first novel. View titles by Eleanor Shearer
"Fireflies in Winter is simply luminous. Eleanor Shearer powerfully explores the fragile spaces in history where Black citizens negotiate freedom, the harsh choices frequently forced upon them, and the powerful force of love within those spaces. A book to treasure."—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Briar Club

Praise for River Sing Me Home

"A gripping novel about the resilience of a mother’s love.”— People

"Shearer’s dynamic debut… weaves together a historical accounting of the perils of British emancipation with a moving interrogation of what freedom really means."—Time

“A powerful novel that explores how freedom and family are truly defined.”—Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Personal Librarian

"An extraordinary odyssey of pain, love, and homecoming as Rachel searches not only for her children but for her own past, her own independence, and her own soul. A haunting and powerful debut.”—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye

"A testament to how hard a mother will fight for her kids."—Real Simple

"A strong and beautiful novel that stares into the face of brutality and the heart of love."—Jeanette Winterson, New York Times bestselling author of Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

About

A gripping novel of two young women fighting for survival on the edge of the wilderness, and the love that simultaneously sustains them and threatens their very existence, from the author of the Good Morning America Book Club pick River Sing Me Home.

Nova Scotia, 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 among 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....

With evocative prose and immersive storytelling, Fireflies in Winter is a powerful novel about love—love for the wilderness in all its unforgiving beauty, and love between two women who risk everything to be together.

Author

© Lucinda Douglas-Menzies
Eleanor Shearer is a mixed-race writer and the granddaughter of Windrush generation immigrants. She splits her time between London and Ramsgate on the English coast so that she never has to go too long without seeing the sea. For her Master's degree in Politics at the University of Oxford, Eleanor studied the legacy of slavery and the case for reparations, and her fieldwork in St. Lucia and Barbados helped inspire her first novel. View titles by Eleanor Shearer

Praise

"Fireflies in Winter is simply luminous. Eleanor Shearer powerfully explores the fragile spaces in history where Black citizens negotiate freedom, the harsh choices frequently forced upon them, and the powerful force of love within those spaces. A book to treasure."—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Briar Club

Praise for River Sing Me Home

"A gripping novel about the resilience of a mother’s love.”— People

"Shearer’s dynamic debut… weaves together a historical accounting of the perils of British emancipation with a moving interrogation of what freedom really means."—Time

“A powerful novel that explores how freedom and family are truly defined.”—Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Personal Librarian

"An extraordinary odyssey of pain, love, and homecoming as Rachel searches not only for her children but for her own past, her own independence, and her own soul. A haunting and powerful debut.”—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye

"A testament to how hard a mother will fight for her kids."—Real Simple

"A strong and beautiful novel that stares into the face of brutality and the heart of love."—Jeanette Winterson, New York Times bestselling author of Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

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