A PLACE CALLED WINTER: Exclusive Chapter Sampler

by Patrick Gale

An exclusive free sample from Patrick Gale's new novel A PLACE CALLED WINTER...From the bestselling author of NOTES FROM AN EXHIBITION comes an extraordinary story of self-discovery. 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.

32 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 29, 2015

About the author

Patrick was born on 31 January 1962 on the Isle of Wight, where his father was prison governor at Camp Hill, as his grandfather had been at nearby Parkhurst. He was the youngest of four; one sister, two brothers, spread over ten years. The family moved to London, where his father ran Wandsworth Prison, then to Winchester. At eight Patrick began boarding as a Winchester College Quirister at the cathedral choir school, Pilgrim's. At thirteen he went on to Winchester College. He finished his formal education with an English degree from New College, Oxford in 1983.

He has never had a grown-up job. For three years he lived at a succession of addresses, from a Notting Hill bedsit to a crumbling French chateau. While working on his first novels he eked out his slender income with odd jobs; as a typist, a singing waiter, a designer's secretary, a ghost-writer for an encyclopedia of the musical and, increasingly, as a book reviewer.

His first two novels, The Aerodynamics of Pork and Ease were published by Abacus on the same day in June 1986. The following year he moved to Camelford near the north coast of Cornwall and began a love affair with the county that has fed his work ever since.

He now lives in the far west, on a farm near Land's End with his husband, Aidan Hicks. There they raise beef cattle and grow barley. Patrick is obsessed with the garden they have created in what must be one of England's windiest sites and deeply resents the time his writing makes him spend away from working in it. As well as gardening, he plays both the modern and baroque cello. His chief extravagance in life is opera tickets.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slow begining but Patrick Gale knows exactly how to keep you engaged with the story. A beautiful love story.

[Sue Brooker · Rating 5 out of 5]

My absolute favourite book. I love almost everything I’ve read of Patrick Gales works

[Gert Kruitbosch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A place called Winter gives a beautiful picture of life in the Canadian MidWest at the turn of the 1900's.
The research was thorough, and the stile of writing grabs you and makes you feel like the main character.

[Joy Lilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have so enjoyed reading this great story of major turmoil in a young life.
It is my turn to choose a book for my book club."A place called Winter" is to be the one.

Joy Gerken pen name Joy M. Lilley

[Geordie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and will remember it for a long time. The character Harry just touched my heart. A beautifully written story.

[Karen Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I expected and quite sad, but also evokes hopeful tolerance.

[Clare Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best characterisation I've come across in a long while. Totally gripping.