The preludes of winter are just as beautiful as those of spring. On a gray December day, when it is, as the farmers say, too cold to snow, the chilly fingers of winter occasionally let fall some star-shaped flakes - its anemones and windflowers - heralding its strict reign. This description by James Russell Lowell brings back memories of the winters of childhood, when the sky was gloomier and the snowflakes more magnificent. Following her successful books on the flowers of summer and spring, Martina Hochheimer presents an impressive selection of winter flower images: rose and lavender adorned with hoarfrost diamonds, poinsettia and Christmas rose, winter bloom and witch hazel, snowdrop and winter jasmine. The texts by Sarah Kirsch and Elisabeth Langgässer, by Rose Ausländer, William Shakespeare, and Ral.