A Place Called Winter

The epic and tender bestselling novel of love, compassion and living again

De: Patrick Gale

Narrado por: Patrick Gale

** Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2015 **

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.

(P)2015 Headline Digital©2015 Patrick Gale

Reseñas de la Crítica

Patrick Gale has written a book which manages to be both tender and epic, and carries the unmistakeable tang of a true story. I loved it. (Jojo Moyes)

Absorbing, moving and beautifully written, with echoes of EM Forster which I found especially enjoyable. (Amanda Craig)

Beautifully structured around the warmest of warm hearts, but it's also run through with something new: a devastating chill of loss, fear and exile which keeps you shaking your head and biting your lip in concern and shame and disbelief. (Louisa Young)

Bold, moving, intensely erotic - I couldn't put down this tale of passion and endurance, told with such tenderness. (Patricia Duncker)

A tender tale of loss and love

This is an intensely personal book. Gale was inspired by a true tale from his own family history, and the depth of feeling shows. It's one gay man reaching out to another across a century of social change, and his most powerfully moving novel yet

A dramatic and affecting portrayal of dislocation, extreme environments and the traumatic effects of enforced secrecy

A master storyteller. Quite simply, you believe every word he tells you

Gale is not a sentimental writer, he's vividly aware of hardship and despair, but the overwhelming emotion in this fine book is one of tender, life-affirming joy

His best book yet

This is a convincing and fascinating portrait of daily life over a century ago in a far away place. The mixture of adventure, historical saga and romance is utterly heartwrenching

Gale is a skilful storyteller

Mr Gale often uses autobiographical detail to good effect; here, he has excelled himself with the historical detail, resulting in a beautifully written, satisfying story that deserves to be a bestseller

A mesmerising storyteller; this novel is written with intelligence and warmth

Gale employs his gift as a writer to will such pockets of tolerance retrospectively into existence - for the sake of his relative, as well, perhaps, as for all of us. Humanity does not look quite so wretched through Patrick Gale's eyes

Lightness of touch, one of Gale's characters observes, is desirable in a novelist, and it is one of Gale's virtues...Rich in atmosphere and period detail...this enjoyable tale is both witty and poignant

A gorgeously written, bittersweet story about secrets and identity

[A] fascinating novel (Helen Dunmore)

Be inspired by Patrick Gale's entrée to historical fiction... the deep undercurrents of love and desire that give the novel its pull will awaken you

An epic, intimate human drama, both brutal and breathtaking

A gripping and deeply moving book about love, fear and hope

A story too poignant not to be based on truth

I am a huge fan of Patrick gale and have loved all his books. His was perhaps not the best narrator although I did get used to him after a few chapters. The character of Harry Gale will stay with me. I feel sure that this story must be based on truth however fragile. Read it and love it as I did. Petra, Paul and Harry will surely get under your skin.

Outstanding.

Patrick Gale has long been my favourite author. His work is always excellent, but this book is really outstanding. The way he drew upon his family history to write it is fascinating, and I would love to have access to a list of the facts to see what he had to work with.

The story of a gay man in Edwardian society, and the raw emotionality of his relationships was harrowing at times, and sad at others, with a bit of murder mystery thrown in.

The only criticism that I would make is that I was often confused about the period. Sometimes I thought it was Victorian, then Edwardian, and then during WWI. It was all of those, I suppose, but moving between past and present was a tad confusing for me. It wasn't until towards the end that I had a firm grip on what period we had been in at various times. Gale has a lovely voice, but his narration was a bit lacking in that he doesn't really do accents or different voices for different characters very well, which would have helped. Still it is nice to hear him.

Definitely worth a download, and will probably be the first audio book that I ever listen to a second (and maybe third) time.

Crying at beauty

Indelible portrait of love and loss. Heart wrenching, but hopeful too. Stunning book. A must listen.

excellent

Part of the great satisfaction of reading this wonderful book is having Patrick Gale reading it. No one could have done it better.