Description

**Winner of the 2025 BETTY TRASK PRIZE**

‘Excellent . . . Ashani Lewis is superbly talented.’ Katherine Rundell
‘Thoughtful, intelligent and beautifully written . . . Lewis is definitely a new talent to watch.’ Marie Claire, “Best Books of 2024”

In one of America’s Happiest Cities, thirty-eight-year-old Elen is trapped under the shadow of the snow-capped Cascade Mountains. Her husband has left her. Her belongings are in the boot of her car. Her days are filled mostly with silence and drinking. When she meets four English teenagers in an empty bar, she is enamoured.

Luka, Clover, George and Lyn are wealthy squatters, drifting between ski resorts and breaking into empty AirBnBs. When they bring Elen into their fold – and into their messy, entangled relationships – she senses a violent secret that fuels the four’s never-ending disappearing act.

Dazzling, cultish and intensely committed to creating their own utopia, they force Elen to ruminate on the irresistible pull of bright young things.

She doesn’t understand what they want from her, but how can she leave when she has nowhere else to go?

A dark meditation on the dangers and seductive power of youthful idealism, and the slippages between friendship and love, Winter Animals is an extraordinary debut examining freedom, friendship, desire and excess.

‘A dreamlike, piercing examination of privilege, youth and freedom.’ Cecile Pin, author of Wandering Souls
‘Atmospheric as hell, beautiful, and delightfully intelligent . . . Think The Secret History written by Raven Leilani.’ Jenny Mustard, author of Okay Days

Publisher Review

Excellent . . . Ashani Lewis is superbly talented. — Katherine Rundell A remarkable novel: atmospheric as hell, beautiful, and delightfully intelligent. Its unique sentences sparkle with energy. Think The Secret History written by Raven Leilani. I devoured it and am left wanting more, Ashani Lewis is a rare talent! — Jenny Mustard, author of OKAY DAYS Thoughtful, intelligent and beautifully written . . . Lewis is definitely a new talent to watch. — “Best Books of 2024” * Marie Claire * A talented writer . . . Winter Animals is a dreamlike, piercing examination of privilege, youth and freedom. — Cecile Pin, author of WANDERING SOULS Beautiful writing * Financial Times, Best New Debuts * A glittering, dark-edged tale of snow, hedonism, passion, friendship and squatting that explores what happens when a group of rich kids attempt to live out their questionable utopian ideals. Exhilarating and fabulous, I raced through it. — Priscilla Morris, author of BLACK BUTTERFLIES Compelling * The Irish Times * A debut full of ideas. I have the sense that this is the first of many new worlds. — Sophie Dickinson * Telegraph *