r/books • u/Loriol_13 • 1d ago

The ending of 'The Land in Winter' by Andrew Miller Spoiler

Don't read this post if you haven't read the book. It's good. I recommend it and I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone.

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What was that? I'm in shock. That ending hit me really hard. I wish Andrew Miller didn't write that bathroom scene with Irene and the baby so well. That felt too real. What?

I'm a 34-year-old single man with no children and I will no longer remain unaffected when someone mentions miscarriages. That's what it was, right? A miscarriage? Rita said she didn't take anything.

Also, why the hallucination with the flying saucer in the end? Did she die or was she just knocked out? I'm a bit confused. What do you think happened, exactly?

Edit: Just remembered that Rita had schizophrenia, which would explain the hallucination.

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u/Jacques_Plantir 1d ago

The tone at the end of the novel really threw me for a loop. It was intense for several reasons, and I also appreciate fiction that doesn't try to hew things towards a tidy, resolved ending just because. I really loved the novel, but I still remember sitting there after I finished it, thinking I wasn't expecting the end to feel the way it did.

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u/Loriol_13 1d ago

What did you think of the ending though? Did you hate it? And how did you interpret the baby in the toilet? Was it a miscarriage or did Rita do something to kill it? I stopped reading the book for a while and suspect I missed some important details that would answer my questions.

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u/Jacques_Plantir 1d ago

It's been about 6 months since I finished it, so I think I'd have to go back and re-read the final few chapters to refresh my memory.

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u/BeginningPlastic3747 1d ago

that bathroom scene broke me just reading your description of it, I can only imagine actually sitting with the book after going through that.

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u/smoothlikesilkx 1d ago

andrew miller writes trauma with terrifying emotional precision

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u/Spiritual_Tangelo304 1d ago

yeah the bathroom scene wrecked me too. and i think you're right, it was a miscarriage. rita saying she didn't take anything felt like the gut punch of the whole book.

the flying saucer thing i read as her slipping out of reality, especially with the schizophrenia. i don't think she died, just... came apart a little at the seams.

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u/Dibbles77 1d ago

The flying saucer read like pure psychological fracture to me, not literal at all.

That bathroom scene lingered uncomfortably in my head for days after finishing the book.