Rejuvenating Books for the Changing of the Seasons
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
In this romantic comedy set in the rolling fields and resort villages of Italy and England, Spring is a major influence for the main characters. Lucy’s repressed girlhood and marriage is awoken by the George Emerson, who shows her a different way of life, one far more open and free.
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Transplanted from a luxurious tropical island to a Puritan upbringing in colonial Connecticut, Kit finds the adjustment to harsh New England winter to be quite difficult. Still, the approaching spring brings a sense of hope and resurgence as she slowly warms to her new environment.
Opening on cheerful April morning, this Victorian novel follows Dorothea, an idealistic young woman who is in an ill-suited marriage with a much older man. The mood of spring is captured by the recurring sense of hope and the advent of second chances.
Birds of America by Lorrie Moore
While the stories in this collection often veer down dark, twisted paths marked by odd and surreal characters, there is always a kernel of optimism and potential at the very end. This blend of styles contains hope amid chilling circumstances and surroundings.
Leaves of Grass by Walk Whitman
This classic American epic, revised and pored over during the last 30 years of Whitman’s life, is a celebration of the seasons and the never-ending cycle they undergo. Spring assumes a vital role in this sequence as a promise of renewal and a source of expectation and joy.