A Winter Marriage: A Novel

by Kerry Hardie

Marrying for financial security instead of love, Hannie Bennet--divorced three times and widowed by her fourth husband--marries Ned Renvyle, a writer and world traveler settling down on a farm in the Irish countryside, only to find her marriage has become a prison and she is alienated from those around her, until her troubled teenage son forces her to make an impossible choice. A first novel. 30,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back when women really couldn’t do anything except get married, a chain-smokin’, gin drinkin’, 5 times divorced socialite with some else’s devil’s spawn of a son is looking to get hitched again. And she does, to an unsuspecting old guy, an Irish widower with an isolated sheep farm. Things go as you might expect. The whole book is about whether the socialite will come around and be happy in the idyllic (though cold and rainy) Irish countryside, or will she continue to yearn for a warmer, less drafty situation with funner people to hang out with. And then there’s the devil spawn son to mess things up for everyone. That poor Irish sheep farmer puts up with a lot.

[MaryAnne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this book. The writing is beautiful but after 200 pages I didn't like the characters and didn't care what happened to them. Since I have so many books to read, I said enough. I really wanted to like this bok.

[Lori Bamber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book, but my love was part frustration with the characters. The writing is beautiful and explores a time in life that isn't far behind us in the Western world and continues over much of the planet ... when a woman without means had only one chance, and that is to marry.

It's also an exploration of what "a mother's love" can mean, and what love looks like after we are disappointed, our hopes dashed, our affection unreturned.

I look forward to reading more by Kerry Hardie.

[Kimberly Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a novel for anyone who wants to be amused. It is dark and sometimes dreary but it has moments of very true-to-life realism. I'm an eclectic reader and lately, I've been leaning towards books that explore the not-so-perfect aspects of life and interpersonal relationships. This story definitely does that and then some. Hannie is not your milk and honey heroine. She can be downright unlikeable at times- someone I hope I won't ever meet. Yet, by the end of the story, I realize that I do know her...or at least, I understand her and I appreciate her honesty. I too have left several lives behind me and the journey has been harrowing at times. Hannie is a survivor and what I recognize in her is that steely determination to go forward despite great personal losses- the hope for something better pulling a person through days of boredom and outright misery at times. I didn't always like her methods but, I get it. I also truly understood how much she loved her best friend and how she went to the limit to fulfill a promise. Hannie did have something sacred in her life and it was her redeeming feature.

[Shea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overall, I did not enjoy this book. I did not like the characters, especially the primary character of Hannie. In the end I was not happy that I had spent all this time with these people. Even Ned, who was the most tolerable of the characters, was not engaging enough to make me care what happened to him. I am not opposed to flawed, or even unlikable characters. However, I do prefer they have some redeeming qualities or at least experience some growth through the story. The characters seemed too set in their ways and were not going to change. The only thing I did enjoy about this book were the author's descriptions of the nature surrounding the characters and the weather in Ireland. This alone is not enough for me to recommend this book to anyone.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

A story full of antagonist characters, none of whom I really cared much for or about. Hannie, the lead woman, and Ned, the lead man, are boring, self-centered, pitiful characters who are married to each other for convenience and nothing more. The last 1/3 of the book was much more interesting and captivating than the 2/3 before it. I stuck with it, hoping there would be some sort of resolution to all the turmoil, and I'm glad I did. But it's not necessarily a book I would recommend.

[Grace Phelps · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this book. And it had a lot going on in the beginning pages. I did not make it past the first chapter, past the first 4-5 pages. I read the reviews and decided to put it back down. At this point, I do not want to read a depressing story, and it sounds as though this may just be that type of story.

[Darlene · Rating 1 out of 5]

A ridiculous story of a self centred, self absorbed, selfish woman who selfishly marries, in comparison, a good man. A bit of story turns up near the end but not enough to compensate for the dead trees.

[Meghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a little too tortured for my liking.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very slow moving, took a long time to get to the climax. Character driven book, but I didn't really like any of the characters.

[Mary Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautiful story, beautifully told

[Nancy Brady · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I finished the book, it was a long slog. Too literary for me (now I know why...she's basically a poet*) as there was SO much description and so little action for the longest time. It took so long to really get into the story.

Hannie goes from husband to husband to survive, and I think Ned Renvyle was number five. But even then she goes from man to man, getting what she can from them, all the while being married.

Ned, having never been married before, puts up with Hannie and her son Joss, who is a troubled, lost soul. Once married, they return to his life in Ireland, but for Hannie it isn't enough. She doesn't like the farm; she doesn't particularly care for his friends, and she doesn't really care about Ned. All she wants is to protect Joss and have a safety net for herself.

Time and time again, Joss gets into trouble, and Hannie bails him out until she can't, all of which doesn't help the marriage. A sad story of a marriage, that never quite gets off the ground, and even the ending leaves the reader wondering what next for Ned and Hannie, if anything. (And to be honest, even if there were a sequel, I wouldn't care enough to read it.)

[Michele Fay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Want to get really depressed? Then A Winter Marriage may be the perfect book for you. Set in Ireland during the dreariest of winter months, a woman who spent most of her life in Java decides to marry again because...well, I'm still not really sure why. Her "son", Joss, is sadistic and clearly mentally ill, although that diagnosis never seems to be acknowledged in the novel. But it doesn't really matter because after driving an acquaintance of his to drown, he also dies in the end.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written but I didn’t really like the main character at all. The story was as bleak and dreary as the damp Irish winter it was set in.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disturbing and difficult read. Dark and sinister.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book tends to be dark at times, I thought the writing was terrific.

[Ronda · Rating 3 out of 5]

very depressing!

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book for the writing--it is just amazing. The story and characters are difficult--so it is hard to recommend the book, because, like many other readers, it may beat you down.

[Heather Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. Beautifully written.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favorite Quotes:

There are times when it’s nothing to die…You’re so weak and the door stand open and all around they’re walking through that door. But if you come back to life after that, it’s a different story. My God, you hold life so tight in your hand, you’ll never loosen your grip.

[The sky] was like gray glass.

[T]here were layers to the wind.

The sky was a length of stretched silk. Lemon silk, translucent and shot through with pink.

Trust isn’t some gift that you give to a man to keep safe in a special place and feel grateful for. It’s an indulgence – a self-indulgence – something you may or may not choose to go in for.

He doesn’t much like human beings, he said, he doesn’t like the rooms people live in behind their eyes, he’d rather be outside under the sky.

[Midge · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is very dark, as are the characters. The images are dark, as well, but the descriptive prose is the bright part of this novel that takes place in Ireland, mostly during the bleak, rainy, cold fall and winter. Hannie marries a man much older than she to provide a home and money to support herself and her teenaged son. She came from the sun and warmth of Africa and does not take well to the Irish weather, and does not choose to enjoy her new husband, his family and friends, or her new home. Hannie is obsessed with her son's well-being, and the son is obsessed with himself. Ned, the new husband, truly loves Hannie, but ends up giving more of himself than he ever intended.

[Lisa Zhang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a lovely portrait of a complicated heroine, an often unlikable one. I enjoyed getting to know her because Kerry Hardie writes beautifully. Because of her talent, I got to spend a week of my summer in the chill of middle Ireland. Her characters are wonderfully captured in her account. It was not an easy-to-read book and I would not recommend it to just anyone, but if you are able to savor a book like you might a long cup of coffee, if you have a week to lose yourself in the cold beauty of an Irish countryside winter, I recommend this book to you.

[Merryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a dark, bleak book, set in a dark, bleak landscape. I first read this 14 years ago and read it in a day. I wanted to revisit it to see why it was such a compelling read, and I found the answer. The main character is not at all likeable, but there is something about her which makes you admire her. Her tenacity and courage are both her strength and her weakness. I loved this book as much second time around!

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book......at its centre is the marriage of Ned and Hannie and complicated relationships between them individually and her son Joss. With other wonderfully portrayed characters the book by is a rich and sometimes distressing read in the landscape of a farm in Ireland over one winter. Just beautiful

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A woman from Africa marries an Irish man because she's broke and needs a place to live with her teenage son, who's kind of broken, himself. The son causes the death of a young woman and runs away while his mother tries to get along with her new husband and situation.

It's not an easy story.

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters were an odd lot. I thought this was going to be another stab one of my favorite books, "Winter Solstice", but no. I did learn some Irish names (Ciaran and Niamh). Who thought up that crazy language? Nothing is pronounced the way it looks.

[Torie Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot, except for the ending. I thought that that could of been better. But inside the story you think a lot about morals, trust, and commitment, and that appealed to me. I enjoyed reading this book!

[Judi · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A farm again. Well, she wouldn't starve, it would be a home for Joss, And she was older now she might settle. Who knows what you can settle to if there isn't a choice? Certainly she, Hannie, did not."

My review on MostlyFiction:
http://mostlyfiction.com/world/hardie...

[Elizabeth tedrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

this story is intoxicating- you cannot stop reading, and the story is so ordinary but so interesting at the same time. really great book

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not The Lovey Bones at all. I was able to finish it waiting for resoultion