A Place Called Winter: The epic and tender bestselling novel of love, compassion and living again
As seen:
By Patrick Gale
avg rating
4 reviews
- Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2015 **
Picked for the BBC Radio 2 Simon Mayo Book Club
To find yourself, sometimes you must lose everything.
A privileged elder son, and stammeringly shy, 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 of undeniable magnetism that the fight for survival will reveal in Harry an inner strength and capacity for love beyond anything he has ever known before.
In this exquisite journey of self-discovery, loosely based on a real life family mystery, Patrick Gale has created an epic, intimate human drama, both brutal and breathtaking. It is a novel of secrets, sexuality and, ultimately, of great love.
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Read this book with pleasure. I enjoyed the way it was written whilst exploring a sensitive subject matter in some detail. It highlights the dramatic steps taken by an individual to protect his family whilst examining the conflicts he had to address in own his personal life. It highlighted to me how far society has come in accepting those who have differences. I would recommend the book.
A well written narrative covering a difficult topic. A gripping beginning, although it was sometimes hard to understand where the action was taking place. Things fell into place subsequently. There were occasions when the narrative became a little tedious and slow. The characters, especially Troels, were well imagined, although Jack was often insipid and needed pulling together. He was a victim of circumstances and the time period, where certain behaviours and attitudes were expected. No incentives would have persuaded me that life on the prairies was going to be anything but difficult, hard physical labour. A novel about relationships between siblings. Jack and Harry. Winnie and her siblings. Paul and Petra. Generally, a good read.
Read with Gloucester Book Club. Set in early 1900s London, young and wealthy Harry Cane marries and has a daughter, and then discovers that he’s gay. The ensuing scandal means he flees to Canada to make a new life and find happiness. Beautifully written, this novel explores Harry’s life, his loves, and his tragedies. Thoroughly recommend this one!
This book is fantastic - starting in a repressed button-down London, Harry Cane tries desperately to live a quiet life and be respectable, until the discovery of a scandal forces him to leave behind everyone he knows and start a new life in a harsh and unforgiving homestead in Canada.
Along the way he discovers real love, friendship, and what it means to be strong.
The descriptions are beautiful, the characters unforgettable, and the hardships heartbreaking. Read it.
