The STITCH & HIDE Winter Reading List

Books, magazines and a little encouragement to put your phone down.

There is something about winter that makes reading feel less like an activity and more like a way of living.

The days are shorter. The mornings are darker. There is usually a jumper involved. Coffee tastes better. And, if we're lucky, there is an hour somewhere in the day when nobody needs anything from us.

Winter is the season for getting properly lost in a book.

So, in the spirit of slower days and longer chapters, we've put together our winter reading list. A mix of new releases, Australian voices, memoir, fiction and one very good magazine recommendation for the teenagers in your life.

No rules. No reading goals. No pressure to finish anything.

Just a few things worth picking up when you'd rather be somewhere else for a while.

For the one who wants to disappear into a story

Funny, clever and quietly devastating, Meg Mason's latest is set against the backdrop of a literary festival, where a woman finds herself unexpectedly changed by the work of a writer she admires.

It's the kind of novel that is easy to sink into on a cold afternoon, particularly if you like your fiction intelligent, emotionally observant and a little bit funny.

Read this if: you like Sally Rooney, Elizabeth Day or books about women figuring themselves out somewhere in the middle of life.

For something sweeping and atmospheric

Maggie O'Farrell turns her attention to the Irish famine in this intergenerational story about landscape, history, family and memory.

It's a beautiful choice for winter because it rewards the kind of slow reading that the season seems to invite. The sort where you read twenty pages, make another cup of tea, and then realise you've been sitting in the same chair for three hours.

Read this if: you loved Hamnet or The Marriage Portrait.

For the reader who likes a little intrigue

If you haven't discovered Patrick Radden Keefe yet, winter is an excellent time to start.

Known for his extraordinary ability to turn complicated true stories into genuinely gripping reading, Keefe's latest investigates the mysterious death of a London teenager and the events surrounding it.

It's meticulously researched but reads with the momentum of a thriller.

Read this if: your idea of relaxing involves saying, "I'll just read one more chapter."

For something closer to home

Set in historical Sydney, The Trap takes us into the city's darker corners during wartime, exploring the tension between the queer community and police.

It's atmospheric, unsettling and deeply rooted in place, making it a particularly compelling winter read for anyone who enjoys Australian historical fiction.

The Sydney Writers' Festival included it among its 2026 winter reading recommendations, alongside a wonderfully eclectic list of new Australian and international fiction.

Read this if: you like your historical fiction with a little grit.

For a true story about women refusing to give up

Part memoir, part collection of stories about women challenging the status quo, Women Who Win is exactly the sort of book you want within reach when you need a reminder that ordinary women can do extraordinary things.

It became one of the bestselling adult titles at the 2026 Sydney Writers' Festival, so we're clearly not the only ones adding it to the winter pile.

Read this if: you like your reading inspiring without being relentlessly earnest.

For the teenager who would rather scroll

This one is for the teenagers.

The new Olive Magazine Issue No. 1 is called The Offline Issue, and honestly, the name alone feels like a good reason to put it in front of a teenager and see what happens.

It is a print magazine created for girls who want to live a little more offline, with the first issue explicitly built around the idea of stepping away from the algorithm and back towards real life.

Give it to them with a cup of tea and don't call it a screen-free activity.

They'll probably be more inclined to read it.

For something tender

A memoir about friendship, grief and the strange, beautiful relationships that shape our lives.

There is something particularly suited to winter about a book that makes you think about the people you've loved, the people you've lost and the friendships that somehow survive all the years in between.

Keep this one for a quiet weekend.

For when you want to read something completely different

Part romance, part historical fiction and part exploration of travel, food and identity, Taiwan Travelogue won the 2026 International Booker Prize and has been one of the year's most talked-about books.

It's a good reminder that a reading list doesn't have to stay in one genre. Sometimes the best book is simply the one that takes you somewhere you've never been.

Read this if: you're craving an escape without actually leaving the sofa.

The rules of winter reading

We've decided there should be very few.

• Read in bed.
• Read before everyone else wakes up.
• Read while the pasta is cooking.
• Read the same page three times because you weren't paying attention.
• Read a magazine.
• Read something completely frivolous.
• Read something that makes you think.
• Start a book and abandon it halfway through if you don't like it.
• Read for ten minutes instead of scrolling for an hour.

And if you're going to take your book with you, put it in a proper bag.

Because winter is really just an excellent excuse to slow down.

Build your winter reading ritual

A good book deserves a good setting.

Find your favourite chair. Make something warm. Put your phone somewhere inconvenient. Pull on the jumper you always reach for. Put your book, glasses, notebook and whatever else you need into your everyday leather bag.

Then sit down.

There is nowhere else you need to be.

For a little inspiration on creating your own slower, more considered everyday ritual, explore the STITCH & HIDE collection of handcrafted leather bags and accessories.

Because the best kind of winter isn't necessarily the one where you go somewhere.

Sometimes it's the one where you stay home and read.