There really is a place called Winter; it’s in Saskatchewan, Canada, and at the time when Patrick Gale’s novel is set, it’s a small, newly-established settlement just off the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Winter is home to the fictional Harry Cane, a character based on the author’s own great-grandfather, but how did such a quiet, gentle and seemingly conventional Englishman end up in so harsh and remote a place? A Place Called Winter is Harry’s story, explaining exactly what the circumstances were which brought him to Canada, and what happened to him after he arrived there.
At the beginning of the novel, Harry is a shy, stammering young man living in Edwardian London. Doing what is expected of him, he gets married, and although he has no real love or passion for his wife, it’s not an unhappy marriage and they have a child together. Things start to go wrong for Harry when he falls in love with a man and is forced to leave the country to escape the resulting scandal. Given the opportunity to farm some land in Canada, Harry begins to build a new life for himself alone in a place called Winter.
Harry’s experiences in Canada are a mixture of good and bad. The challenging environment in which he finds himself requires skills he doesn’t possess and must learn quickly if he is to survive in the wilderness. With the help of some new friends, Harry starts to grow in strength and knowledge, but not everyone he meets is quite so pleasant and the behaviour of the villainous Troels Munck poses an obstacle which must be overcome before he has a chance of finding true happiness.
I found this a very moving and poignant novel, as well as a beautifully written one. I couldn’t help comparing it to Damon Galgut’s Arctic Summer which I had read just a few weeks earlier. The two books have some similar themes, most notably a man trying to come to terms with his sexuality within the confines of early 20th century society, but I thought this novel had a warmth which the other lacked; Gale really engaged my emotions and made me care about his characters in a way that Galgut didn’t.
A Place Called Winter is my first book read from this year’s Walter Scott Prize shortlist and I hope the others on the list will be as good as this one. I haven’t read any of Patrick Gale’s other novels and I understand that he doesn’t usually write historical fiction, but I was very impressed with his writing and would be interested in trying more of his work.
She Reads Novels 
This was one of my best reads of 2015. My book group loved one of his earlier novels. For me he writes with the same empathy as Colm Toibin.
I’m interested in reading Patrick Gale’s earlier novels now, so it’s good to know that your book group enjoyed one of them. 🙂
Like the sound of this thanks for the review. 🙂
You’re welcome, Marje. It’s a great book.
:)))
I was planning on reading all books nominated for the Walter Scott Prize this year, but due to time restrictions I had to skip this shortlist this year.
Your review of this novel has made me regret my decision, as A Place Called Winter sounds right up my alley. I suppose I’ll have to read this one anyway! Thanks for your great review 🙂
I hope you’ll still have time to read A Place Called Winter. I’ve challenged myself to read all of the books shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize since the prize began in 2010 – I’m working through them very slowly but have really enjoyed most of them so far.
I just spotted your review! I also read this recently and plan to review it in a few weeks. I am just on my iPad right now, so I’ll post a link to your review tomorrow. Nice review. I had very similar reactions.
Thanks. I’ll look forward to seeing your thoughts on this book in a few weeks too.
A lovely review. This is his first foray into historical fiction, which having read his other books I was very conscious of. It was fascinating and the sexuality theme became very secondary for me compared to the way they had to survive out there. I do hope you get chance to read some of his other work.
Yes, I enjoyed reading about the challenges people faced trying to survive in the wilderness too.
I’ve had Notes from an Exhibition on the TBR for a while now because I really love to read about artists and Cornwall is always a great location.
That one sounds interesting, Alex. I hope you enjoy it.
I loved this book, and Patrick Gale is one of my favorite writers. Here’s my review http://drchazan.blogspot.com/2016/02/tell-me-who-you-love.html
I really liked Patrick Gale’s writing in this book – I hope he’ll become a favourite author of mine too after I’ve read more of his work. I’m off to read your review now!
Try his “Notes on an Exhibition” – AMAZING!
This was a book club read from last year and our discussion was enhanced because one member had been tomWinter and had some kind of connection with the real life family of Harry.
That must have been an interesting discussion!
I would have been happy just to talk about the place and forget we had to discuss the book
This title is coming up on my TBR. I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed it.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 🙂