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I noticed this one on Audible, so I purchased it, despite having wished for it on NetGalley (but who knows if and when I'll hear back from the publishers).

Anyway...

Winter is the second offering in the SeasonS quartet. As it was the case with Autumn, it's quite interesting, very contemporary and a bit confusing at times.
(I'm not 100% sure I understood the symbolism, especially when it came to a child's detached head seen by sixty-something-year-old, Sophia. Was it mental illness, loneliness, dementia? Not sure I elucidated that aspect of the novel, if any of you did, do let me know. I guess it can be interpreted in many ways.)

Sophia's son, Art, is a twenty-something, kind of clueless guy who's very contented with himself, one of those people who doesn't stand for anything, he doesn't hate anything, but neither cares or loves anything. He's got a blog, Art in Nature, and works for a copyright company, being paid to dob in copyright infringers he discovers while surfing the internet.

His girlfriend, Charlotte leaves him, so in order to avoid explaining to his mother about his now ex-girlfriend, Art hires Lux, a girl he met at a bus stop, to pretend to be his girlfriend. Lux is a very interesting girl, who turns out to be very intelligent, knowledgeable and resourceful. She's Croatian-Canadian, but had to interrupt her studies after running out of money. Thanks to the instability brought on by Brexit, she's unable to find decently paid jobs, so she sleeps wherever she can find shelter, including in libraries or on friends' sofas. Lux challenges the oblivious Art, who despite writing about nature, never goes in nature. Art's nature is all fake.

It was obvious in Autumn where Smith stands when it comes to Brexit. It's plenty apparent in this novel as well, although in a more subtle way.

Again, Smith brings to our attention another female artist, this time, the sculptor, Barbara Hepworth. While the name was unknown to me, when looking up her sculptures, some looked familiar.

There's plenty to analyse and chew on in this novel, despite its small size.
It's not perfect, but it's oh so interesting.

I'm looking forward to reading Spring.

NB: Melody Grove, the narrator of this book was excellent.