Thank you Net Galley and Random House for the opportunity to read. MY GOD! What an amazing book. Montana 1890. When poet, drunk, and doper, Tom Rourke, sets eyes on Polly Gillespie, the mail order bride with a dubious past to the Butte mine boss, sparks fly. Soon the two are on the run on a stolen horse. This is all the good stuff of Lonesome Dove and Cold Mountain. It is dark and yet humorous, tragic, and uplifting. Barry’s voice is unique and compelling; his ability to capture characters, place, and emotion, heartbreakingly real. haven’t read Barry before but I sure as hell will now.!

This is the first book I’ve read by Kevin Barry but it definitely won’t be my last! I found this story of two young lovers on the run in 1890’s Montana to have the grit of a Cormac McCarthy novel, and the subtle cross between adventure and peril found in Cold Mountain. Even so, it was tender enough at its end to need a box of tissues handy! I expect this stunning novel to stay with me for a long time.

This novel’s description reads, “In this love story for the ages—lyrical, profane and propulsive—Kevin Barry has once again demonstrated himself to be a master stylist, an unrivalled humourist, and a true poet of the human heart”. Despite my best efforts, I cannot think of a more perfect description for this story. In this single sentence, my experience as a reader is perfectly summarized.

Prior to reading this novel, I was not familiar with Kevin Barry or his previous work. My interest in this story was derived from personal connections to the setting in which this romance was written. For context, I was born in Butte, Montana (many years after this novel takes place) to a family of Irish immigrants - many of whom worked in Butte’s mines. Consequently, I was instantly intrigued in what this work of historical fiction may hold within its pages.

After only a few sentences, it became abundantly clear that this was not a story which would compare to any others (at least within my experience). My preconceived expectations for what this novel would be were not only shattered, but exceptionally exceeded. With that said, I found that the style in which Barry writes required a period of adjustment. This was due to the way in which Barry instantly immerses the reader in the complexity and contradiction that is Tom Rourke. After initially rereading the first chapter, I quickly adjusted and minimally struggled throughout the books remainder. Personally, I found this difficulty to be a testament to Barry’s ability as an author. As opposed to blatantly stating Rourke’s struggles with his mental health, Barry allows the reader to experience the intricacies, interplay, and burden of these complicated themes. This remains true not only for Rourke, but other characters introduced to the reader as well.

Speaking of Barry’s ability, I have never experienced a story with such vivid imagery. This novel truly reads like an epic poem with the persistent, prodigious personification he provides. Although there are endless quotes which highlight his skill, an example that is one of my personal favorites reads, “they rattled their bones as skeletons dance” (to describe two characters huddled together, shivering in the cold). I have not stopped raving (to anyone who will listen) about Barry’s ability to illustrate with his literature since the moment I first picked up this novel. I look forward to exploring other works by this author.

I would rate this read 4.5/5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Doubleday Publishers, for this opportunity.

Please note: An uncorrected ARC was used to write this review. Consequently, the content is subject to change.

Kevin Barry’s prose is so enchanting that it takes my breath away. Like a master magician, he summons words from thin air and presents them to his readers with a flourish. He could write a city phone book, and it would sing! I went into this, his latest novel, prepared to be bowled over. He did not disappoint.

For the first time, this much-awarded Irish writer sets his novel in America, specifically, the city of Butte, Montana, in 1891. Butte is filled with hard-living Irish immigrant workers, one of whom is Tom Rourke, a ballad writer and sometime-photographer. He has the heart of a poet, and yet there’s a darkness that lives within him, which manifests in drinking, doping, and even suicide ideation.

Then he meets Polly Gillespie, who is a seasoned mail-order bride of sorts to the old owner of the copper mine, Long Anthony Harrington, who ties up his own wrists and whips himself into a frenzy over his love of Jesus. Not exactly a match made in heaven. When Tom and Polly exchange a look, the earth moves. They steal a horse and escape to the badland.

Barry writes, “It was to a world between worlds they were drawn. They were headed into this unthinkable place without a map to it nor the sense to be afraid even, and they were in this regard heroically. Death hovered close to the lovers always. It was around the like a charge o the air. It was like a blue gunpower waft. It was like electricity. They had an aspect of cool affront to life and so it was deathwards they were drawn.”

Heart in Winter weaves together – seamlessly, like magic – a lyrical tale of a bad-ass doper and his far-from-innocent lover, a Western adventure tale of gun-for-hire “Jacks” seeking frontier justice on behalf of Harrington, and a treatise about the choices we make and how these choices get rearranged as Tom and Polly lean into their inevitable fate. The patois of the badlands is channeled seamlessly through Barry’s writing as his characters leap from the page.

I owe a world of thanks to Doubleday Publishers and NetGalley, who provided me with early access to one of my favorite contemporary writers in exchange for an honest review. I’d give this six stars if I could!

Thank you to NetGalley and to Doubleday Books for the ARC of The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, what a cover! Minimalist and eye-catching - it wasn't until after I read the synopsis that I recognized Barry for Night Boat to Tangier which I read a few years back.

It took me about 10-15 minutes of reading to catch on to Barry's prose in The Heart in Winter - something I also remember having to with Night Boat to Tangier - his writing style is very immersive to the topic and it drops you right into a location where the reader has to quickly right themselves to understand the layered meaning of the story. Once into the second chapter focused from Polly's perspective everything felt aligned prose wise. If anyone briefly struggles, stick with it!

Tom Rourke, one of our main characters, writes letters for the men of Butte to help them bring women to the west to marry. One of the women Tom writes to is Polly Gillespie, and within 48hours of her arriving to Butte and marrying the mining captain Long Anthony Harrington, she and Tom begin an emotional and physical affair. Within a few weeks they have made a slapdash plan to steal money and a horse while creating a town-wide distraction to sneak away to the west. When Harrington realizes what has happened, he hires a gang of men to bring Polly back to him. This is where the action begins and we ride along with perspectives from Tom, Polly, and the other players to the end.

Barry's books are concise but every single word and sentence lends to the story. Because of this he has a depth of character building and plot development that flows quickly, but it never feels forced or accidental. We know from the first five pages what a mess Tom Rourke is - suicidal, heavy drinker, opium user, pays for sex, mostly broke, a bit of an insomniac, poet/writer of love letters, etc. In the town he is an accepted scamp - it is recognized he is incapable of being a miner and that he doesn't pay his debts and he avoids the other Irishmen of the town and he is more or less nonviolent. Polly is not just a woman looking for a husband, she's looking to escape her past and recognizing that a woman of 32 has few options in the world - pretending to be younger and virginal for the captain is a simple escape. Together Tom and Polly are a lovely disaster trying their best to make it in the wild west - even knowing their flaws, it's still so easy to root for them.

The backdrop of the west in this time period is well displayed and thought out. The array of cultures and the efforts toward national expansion in the effort to achieve manifest destiny and the American dream highlight the true struggle of finding a new home and being treated equally as fellow townsfolk/fortune seekers/survivors.

The story also contains some of the pivotal elements of westerns - the wilderness, the settlers, outlaws, bounty hunters, and questions or morality and justice - all told from a more nuanced perspective. It is a fine addition to the genre.