Winterkeep
Illustrated by Kuri Huang

“It wasn’t your fault,’ the silbercow said.
Maybe that was true. But Lovisa was beginning to understand that it was her legacy. ‘I’m going to make up for it,’ she said, not knowing what it meant, but certain, in that moment, that it was true. ‘I’m going to protect you.’
‘I believe you’re going to try,’ said the silbercow. ‘I can feel the fire in your heart.”
In this fantasy novel set in the Graceling Realm, Queen Bitterblue decides that it is time for her to visit Winterkeep, the closest country on a newly discovered continent. There, zilfium, a powerful but environmentally destructive fuel, is mined and sold. When the Queen goes missing, everyone assumes she has drowned at sea. When Lovisa, the daughter of two members of opposing political parties in Winterkeep, discovers that her parents have kidnapped Bitterblue, she must make difficult choices about how to protect herself and her brothers while standing up for what she believes.
Winterkeep brings together several climate literacy themes, including resource extraction (mining), collective and individual climate action, deflection, eco-anxiety, human-animal friendship, and interconnectedness. In Winterkeep, humans and animals depend on each other to survive. For example, humans who die are often buried at sea, where their bodies are eaten by glass fish. These fish are in turn eaten by the silbercows (seal-like creatures). When a silbercow dies, their body is brought to shore, where humans use the oils to light their lamps. The silbercows recognise the importance of their relationship with humanity, taking steps to help humans throughout the novel. Many humans, however, dismiss the silbercows. They are not permitted to testify in court, because humans are concerned that silbercows might make things up.Silbercows are therefore left out of many important decisions, even as their habitat is impacted by the extraction and use of zilfium. Animals living in Winterkeep are often aware of human limitations of empathy. The telepathic blue foxes who bond with humans, for example, withhold the full extent of their knowledge and talents, knowing that many humans would take advantage of them.
Lovisa, one of the primary focalizers, grapples with eco-anxiety throughout the novel. One key factor in Lovisa’s apathy is the political system of Winterkeep, which has two opposing political parties. Lovisa’s mother is a Scholar while her father is an Industrialist. The two parties spend much of the novel debating the legalisation of zilfium use. Zilfium is mined in Winterkeep, but its use is banned within the country since it produces environmentally destructive fumes. Instead it is sold for use in neighbouring countries. While the Scholar party is ostensibly concerned with the environmental impact of zilfium use, Lovisa is aware that they remain focused primarily on their self-interest. Lovisa’s mother, for example, owns a silver mine, and is therefore profiting from one type of resource extraction, even as she supposedly works to protect the environment. As a result, Lovisa begins the novel cynical, apathetic, and hopeless about the possibility of effective collective climate action, believing that everyone in Winterkeep is only motivated by their own interests. Over the course of the novel, Lovisa becomes invested in doing what she thinks is right, even at great personal cost. Though Lovisa continues to struggle with the political system in Winterkeep, she becomes determined to fight for a better world for all through individual and collective climate action, modelling this hopeful turn for young readers.
©2026 ClimateLit (Mariah Hudec)
Additional Resources
- Review: Publishers Weekly
- Review: LA Review of Books
- Review: School Library Journal
- Author Blog: Posts about Winterkeep
Publisher: Dial Books, 2021
Audience: Ages 14+
ISBN: 978-0803741508
Pages: 528
Lexile Score: HL780L
Format: Novels
Topics: Climate Action, Collective Climate Action, Deflection, Eco-anxiety, Extractivism, Interconnectedness, Kinship with Animals