Hello Summer, Goodbye

First published in 1975, Hello Summer, Goodbye is a minor classic of the SF field. 

Set on a planet whose elliptical orbit creates intense summers and

long, cold winters, it tells of the love between Drove and the girl

Pallahaxi-Browneyes, whose affair is set against civil war and the dread

approach of winter. It's also a brilliant depiction of an alien world,

with bizarre tidal effects and even stranger native creatures. As Coney

states in the Author's Note: "This is a love story, and a

science-fiction story, and more besides." It's also a

beautifully-written, lyrical adventure story with one of the finest

closing lines in the genre.