This was my first title by Kevin McCarthy and I absolutely loved it and have definitely found a new author to add to my "automatic purchase" list.

The Wintering Place was a fantastic, detailed and often brutal look into the harsh winter in 1867 Dakota territory written in a journal format as entries penned by one of the brothers, Michael (which may or may not be his actual name). I really enjoyed this format as it lent a more personal feeling to the story and helped connect with the characters even more. There was no attempt to pretty up the journal entries so it really seems as if it was written by the character.

Jumped into this title without having read the prior one by McCarthy. But did not have any trouble with what had transpired. In 1867, two Irish brothers, Tom and Michael, are on the run in the Dakota Territory. They are accompanied by Sara, a mixed race French/Native American who they “liberated” (most likely in the earlier novel) from a rough brothel/enslavement.

All they want to do is find a place to endure the harsh winter where they can heal from their wounds and figure out their next move. Things do not go well: trappers with bad intentions; a trip to an outpost for supplies; avalanche; scarce hunting and a past that comes back to challenge them. Tom and Sara form a romantic bond, while Michael chronicles in a diary his viewpoint of what is happening and how they are coping with past and present dangers.

Parts of this book, especially the brutality recalled The Revenant. If a reader is not up for that kind of detail nor the journal format, this may not be the best choice. Otherwise, the characters and emphasis on their ethnicity makes for a unique experience of the harsh and wild West.

Recommended. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this title.

Five words or phrases to describe McCarthy’s The Wintering Place: Raw, Disturbing, Visceral, Emotionally Invasive, Riveting. This is a novel for fans of Donald Ray Pollock and Cormac McCarthy, readers who enjoy (perhaps with grimacing faces) the feel of dirt under the character’s nails, an odor of decaying blood lingering and fetid, the kind of novel that settles a deep chill in your bones and in your soul. The Wintering Place is a novel about resilience and survival and the cost of that survival on the human soul.

The novel is set in the 1840s on the American plains, in the rural hills and the long stretches of lonely woods. It revolves around two brothers, Irish immigrants, who have fought and lived according to a primal form of justice. They are army deserters, fugitives in more ways than one. Blood and death are on their hands, rightly or wrongly. A woman, the bride of one of the brothers, accompanies them — and together they are a kind of family, dependent on each other for their survival and security. There is a bond of love between, the kind that is weathered by the harshness of life, silent, sullen, and not always kind. The woman is like the brothers: alone in the world, a survivor of a place and time that beats women out of their dignity, power, and softness.

The three of them seek a wintering place. A place to hole up for the dark season. They need only to survive the weather — that is, until they encounter animals of their own kind who threaten them. Humanity is the evil that lurks in the shadows of the forest. The snow, wolves, and frost kill too, but humans pose the most danger.

The three of them encounter ruffians like themselves, Native Americans, officers of the law, traders and merchants who hold the power of life or death over all who dare to traverse the plains in winter. Everyone is seeking a safe wintering place in some way or another.

My description sounds stark, but McCarthy’s prose and the way he unpicks the fabric of the story and lets it unravel into its bare parts, is captivating. I read this novel compulsively, wanting always to know what happens next. Do they survive another day? Will one of them perish in the effort?

The characters were fleshy, real, and irresistible; the stink of their unwashed bodies and the smell of blood permeated the safety of my apartment as I read this book. It was as if I could sense them in the room with me. McCarthy uses an epistolary delivery, bringing the characters into dialogue with the reader directly; it is almost like having a conversation with them.

At the end of the novel, this reader even felt a little lost — as if there was a little death in the finishing of this book.

I must add one more word to the description: Haunting.

This was a very good book, and although it's in the Western genre, I think most readers would enjoy it for the character development. Two brothers, Michael and Tom, along with Tom's close female companion Sara, are on the run from an Indian massacre that gravely injured Michael. They eventually find a cave along a river that they think will provide them food and shelter over the winter. Not long after two trappers stop by to share what little food and shelter the group can provide. The trappers are not what they appear to be and an incident not long after they arrive almost costs the brothers and Sara their lives. The brothers are also considered deserts from the army and fear being arrested if they travel into town for supplies. Eventually circumstances require that they venture to a trading post where they hope no one will recognize them and they will be able to obtain much needed food/provisions. A lot of this story takes place within the cave and along the river so there isn't the feel of a western (notably a lack of animals), but the human interactions and how the brothers and Sara survive make for an enjoyable read. Thanks to #Netgalley and #W.W. Norton for the ARC.

The Wintering Place by Kevin McCarthy is the sequel to Wolves of Eden. It can very definitely be read without having read Wolves of Eden, but I would probably suggest that the books be read in order because they are both so very good.

Brothers and soldiers Tom and Michael Sugrue are struggling to survive. Tom had killed the owner of a brothel to rescue Sara, a half-Native woman, and then deserted. The two soon come across Michael, who has been badly wounded in a Lakota massacre at Fort Phil Kearny. Tom and Sara take Michael with them as they flee to the north.

Portions of the novel are narrated by Michael, in his journal, so do not expect the King’s English. He is, after all, a good Irish Catholic ... (I have seen some reviews where people disliked these chapters due to the dialect. I found them to be honest and revealing.) Tom does little speaking, as he took a Confederate ball through his mouth at Chickamauga, but the narrator provides us with many of his thoughts.

The story shows all the roughness of the Old West, without the gloss and glamour that appear in most novels and movies. (I guess that is a trigger warning, if the previous mentions of a murder and brothel were not sufficient.)

The three main characters are carefully and honestly developed. And I found myself fully immersed in the story ... hoping that things might work out for the brothers and Sara, despite long odds against that happening.

Dakota Territory, 1867. Tom and Michael O'Driscoll (this may or may not be their name) and Sara are on the run. The brothers survived the horrors of the Civil War and then plunged into the Indian conflicts. Just trying to find a place to winter where they can stay out of trouble, and survive, they find a cave that will give them some protection from the elements.

Much of the book is written as journal entries, written by Michael, and as such, are difficult to read. The entries read like they truly were written by someone who had little education and fewer spelling skills. Abbreviations were used in some instances, and it is up to the reader to figure out what he's talking about. Having said that, this is still a good read. A look at the West that we might no normally see in a story.

The threesome meet strangers on the way, survive avalanches, bitter weather, food shortages, loss of their horses. This all creates a story filled with a certain amount of tension.