A place called Winter by Patrick Gale
Publisher: Tinder Press
Release date: 24 March 2015
Rating: *****
Back cover blurb: In the golden 1900s, Harry Cane, a shy, eligible gentleman of leisure is drawn from a life of quiet routine into courting and marrying Winnie, eldest daughter of the fatherless Wells clan, who are not quite as respectable as they would appear. They settle by the sea and have a daughter and conventional marriage does not seem such a tumultuous change after all. When a chance encounter awakens scandalous desires never acknowledged until now, however, Harry is forced to forsake the land and people he loves for a harsh new life as a homesteader on the newly colonized Canadian prairies. There, in a place called Winter, he will come to find a deep love within an alternative family, a love imperiled by war, madness and an evil man of undeniable magnetism.
Publisher: Tinder Press
Release date: 24 March 2015
Rating: *****
Back cover blurb: In the golden 1900s, Harry Cane, a shy, eligible gentleman of leisure is drawn from a life of quiet routine into courting and marrying Winnie, eldest daughter of the fatherless Wells clan, who are not quite as respectable as they would appear. They settle by the sea and have a daughter and conventional marriage does not seem such a tumultuous change after all. When a chance encounter awakens scandalous desires never acknowledged until now, however, Harry is forced to forsake the land and people he loves for a harsh new life as a homesteader on the newly colonized Canadian prairies. There, in a place called Winter, he will come to find a deep love within an alternative family, a love imperiled by war, madness and an evil man of undeniable magnetism.
Firstly I must apologise to Patrick because the review that’s about to follow could never do this novel the justice it deserves.
I also need to apologise for not having read any of his previous novels. Where have I been?
A
place called Winter is a novel that can only be described as a
masterpiece. When I read on Patrick’s website that it had been inspired
in part by family history, well I fell in love with the novel just a
little bit more.
Harry
Cane (Hurricane, Windy – yes he’s heard all the jokes!) is a shy,
caring man with a stutter that endears the reader to him even more.
Brother to Jack, Wife to Winnie and Father to Phyllis. Harry appears to
have it all. But the opening pages of the novel tell a different tale.
Harry’s departure from a Canadian mental asylum to an experimental
therapeutic centre under the watchful eyes of Dr Gideon Ormshaw shows us
a man traumatised by the procedures he has been subjected to.
How exactly did Harry end up in Bethel?
A
place called Winter alternates between two time periods in Harry’s
life. His life within in the asylum and later, Bethel, and the events of
his life prior to the asylum; his early life in England, his emigration
to Canada minus his family and his settlement in Canada.
Harry’s
life begins ordinarily enough, left his father’s omnibus fortune, Harry
is comfortable with his life as a bachelor, living with his brother
Jack. But then Jack meets George, Harry is introduced to George’s
sister, Winnie and everything changes.
Harry
begins his married life happily enough, until he meets a stranger who
unwittingly changes Harry’s future in a way that nobody could have
foreseen. Harry is forced into a situation where he must make a
devastating decision; leave his family, or risk losing everything
including his reputation.
Harry
agonises over his decision and on a whim decides to emigrate to Canada. On board the ship over he meets Troels
Munck, yet another individual who is set to change Harry’s life. Upon
arrival in Canada, Harry must learn how to farm before he is able to
purchase his own land, which he does with commitment and a strength he never knew he had. Soon he is on his
way to a place called Winter, where he decides to settle.
Here
he meets the Slaymakers, Paul and Petra, brother and sister, who are no
strangers to the situation that Harry has found himself in, and we
begin to understand here, the path that the novel may take.
I
don’t want to say too much more and spoil the novel for anyone who
hasn’t had the pleasure of reading it. I suppose however I should say
that Harry’s life in Canada is determined by three people, Petra, Paul
and Troels Munck. The relationships with the former two and the actions
of the latter set Harry’s life on a course that could never have
been predicted.
And the ending? Well we all deserve a little happiness from time to time, and for me, it’s the perfect end to the perfect novel.
A
place called Winter deserves every little bit of advance praise that it
has gathered and is a truly exceptional novel. I guarantee you will
fall in love with it.
A place called Winter is available from 24 March 2015. You can pre-order it now from Tinder Press and Amazon online.
