I looked after Lara. We both looked after Sophie and her baby. We had to. It's not like Sophie was going to look after that baby herself. All she was interested in was weeping and wailing for her dead husband. She was so busy weeping and wailing for her dead husband that she rejected his baby who was right in front of her.

When Olga's friend Lara becomes a grandmother, Olga helps out whenever she can. After all, it's a big imposition on Lara, looking after her bereaved daughter and the baby. And the new mother is not exactly considerate.

But smoldering beneath Olga's sensible support and loving generosity is a deep jealous need to be the centre of Lara's attention and affection—a need that soon becomes a consuming, dangerous and ultimately tragic obsession.

Gigi Fenster's A Good Winter is an enthralling psychological thriller, a dark and complex portrait of a troubled mind.

Gigi Fenster has two previously published works with Victoria University Press. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing and various law degrees, and teaches creative writing and law. She lives on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island.