Before the Winter Ends

In the cold Wellington winter, Omar’s grades are slipping, his mum is unwell and his best friend is growing distant. Two decades earlier in Mogadishu, Asha and Yasser are falling in love and starting to build a life together while a burgeoning war threatens to take it away.

Before the Winter Ends explores the relationship between mother and son across Aotearoa New Zealand, Somalia and Egypt as they search for understanding and try to bridge the distance between them. Khadro Mohamed’s debut novel is a stark portrayal of how the past illuminates the present and how grief shapes a family.

Khadro Mohamed is a writer and poet from Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington. She has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington. Her poetry collection, We’re All Made of Lightning (Tender Press) won the Jessie Mackay Prize for the best first book of poetry at the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Before the Winter Ends is her first novel.