What We Learned From Driving in Winter

Three Singaporean university students in London, as unalike as can be, become roommates and then fast friends. Over three winters in the mid-2010s, Gigi, Yi-En and Clare rely on each other in the face of trauma and big, scary life changes. When news comes of Clare’s disappearance, Gigi and En take a road trip to the countryside to retrace the path of her final days. What We Learned from Driving in Winter explores how we are able to live with tragedy with a little help from our friends.

“Carissa Foo’s novel about displacement and belonging made me think about friendship in all its dimensions. The wintry days of student life and the English countryside are rendered in such atmospheric detail, becoming more vivid and personal through Gigi’s clear-eyed narrative. Although it is a tragedy that drives the journey of these characters, it is ultimately their search for hope that brings them to a new understanding of who and where they are.”
—Balli Kaur Jaswal, bestselling author of Sugarbread and Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows

“A shimmering love letter to the shifting seasons of the friendships that leave their mark forever, and a moving meditation on the contours of winter and the unexpected ways a person enters your heart. Every page is suffused with the warmth and tenderness of these three unlikely roommates, from their blazing intelligence to the comforting rituals they create for one another. Once again, Carissa Foo’s piercing insight shines in this moving story of young love, spiritual questioning and the impossible search for a way forward in the wake of shattering loss. I love this novel with my whole heart.”
—Inez Tan, bestselling author of This Is Where I Won't Be Alone