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The Key into Winter

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THE KEY INTO WINTER opens with Clara begging her mother to tell (one more time) about the time she almost lost forever the key that would turn autumn into winter. As a little girl, Clara's mother hoped that if winter never came, her beloved grandmother would not die. She learns, though, that not only does the order of the world depend on the seasons, but that grandmother herself is eager to move through winter so that she can have one last spring. In simple and powerful language, Janet Anderson addresses many themes: the need for natural order, reconciliation iwth death, the longing to control time and hold fast NOW when it seems so precious, and the powerful inter-generational bonds in a matristic culture. Although the author does not say so explicitly, the constantly recurring constellation of grandmother-mother-daughter is a living representation of the Triple Goddess as Crone, Mother and Maiden. David Soman's gorgeous watercolors illuminate the text with their own beautiful rhythms and depictions of rural African-AMerican family life. The interrelationship of text and pictures makes this an astonishingly powerful book.