A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale will be featured on the Radio 2 Book Club on Monday 23 March.
The book was selected with the help of a panel made up of Reading Agency and library staff from across the UK.
We have an exclusive extract available for you to read as well as discussion questions for your reading group.
A Place Called Winter
A privileged elder son, Harry Cane has followed convention at every step. Even the beginnings of an illicit, dangerous affair do little to shake the foundations of his muted existence – until the shock of discovery and the threat of arrest cost him everything.
Forced to abandon his wife and child, Harry signs up for emigration to the newly colonised Canadian prairies. Remote and unforgiving, his allotted homestead in a place called Winter is a world away from the golden suburbs of turn-of-the-century Edwardian England. And yet it is here, isolated in a seemingly harsh landscape, under the threat of war, madness and an evil man that the fight for survival will reveal in Harry an inner strength and capacity for love beyond anything he has ever known before.
Selection Panel Review
Our reading panel of librarians and staff from The Reading Agency absolutely loved A Place Called Winter – here are some of their comments:
“I have to admit to this being my first Patrick Gale novel – now I know what I have been missing! The book was un-put-downable. It is superbly written. It is an uplifting book in that the characters are courageous and hopeful in the face of adversity, abuse and prejudice. Ultimately, love in all its forms, wins through. Personal integrity, staying true to one’s identity and values, honesty, grit and determination are what mark out the characters with whom you empathise. Wonderful.”
“I read this in one gluttonous sitting. This book drew on every single emotion and left me exhausted (in a good way) after living through – and investing in – the highs and lows. The exploration of alternative family life in a damning, judgmental world was done so sensitively by Gale. The way he conjures up scenery and emotion is fantastic. From the beginning I felt so invested in Harry; his loves and his life. This book will stay with me for a very long time. Read it!”
About the author
Patrick Gale was born on the Isle of Wight. He spent his infancy at Wandsworth Prison, which his father governed, then grew up in Winchester before going to Oxford University. He now lives on a farm near Land’s End. One of this country’s best-loved novelists, his most recent works are A Perfectly Good Man, The Whole Day Through and the Richard and Judy bestseller Notes From An Exhibition.
A word from Patrick
“It’s a great thrill to have A Place Called Winter selected for the Radio 2 Book Club. One of the weird but wonderful things about having a book published is discovering the many different responses which readers then bring to it, all of them valid. I’m sure Harry’s intense emotional journey will strike all sorts of chords in all sorts of readers, not least because so many British readers will have ancestors who went out to Canada in the 1900s whose motives they may not have pondered before. But I’m looking forward, too, to hearing the responses of women readers to the various female characters who help Harry become himself along the way.”
Get involved
Tune in to Simon Mayo’s Drivetime show on Monday 23 March to hear a live interview with Patrick Gale talking about his book.
Have you read A Place Called Winter? You can share your thoughts on Twitter or by posting a comment in the space below. You can also follow Patrick Gale on Twitter.
Want to find out more? The Radio 2 Book Club has a dedicated Twitter feed.
