Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
The Heart in Winter
- Narrated by: Kevin Barry
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
£0.00 for first 30 days
The Heart in Winter
Buy Now for £19.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
A NEW STATESMAN FICTION HIGLIGHT OF 2024
AN OBSERVER FICTION TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2024
AN IRISH TIMES FICTION TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2024
What if we ride out tonight?
What if we ride out and never once look back?
October, 1891. Butte, Montana. A hard winter approaches across the Rocky Mountains. The city is rich on copper mines and rampant with vice and debauchery among a hard-living crowd of immigrant Irish workers.
Here we find Tom Rourke, a young poet and balladmaker, but also a doper, a drinker and a fearsome degenerate. Just as he feels his life is heading nowhere fast, Polly Gillespie arrives in town as the new bride of the devout mine captain Long Anthony Harrington.
A thunderbolt love affair takes spark between Tom and Polly and they strike out west on a stolen horse, moving through the badlands of Montana and Idaho. Briefly an idyll of wild romance perfects itself. But a posse of deranged Cornish gunsmen are soon in hot pursuit of the lovers, and closing in fast . . .
Critic reviews
'Kevin Barry lights out for the territory and once again comes back with a shining nugget of gold. The Heart in Winter is a glorious and haunted yarn, with all the elements - the doomed lovers, the bounty hunters, the knife-fights and whisky-soaked songs - brought to mysterious life by the heft and polish of the Barry sentence. Marvellous.' (JON McGREGOR)
'A great big rollicking ballad of a novel. A love story, and a slice of history, in a language as close to song as literature will ever get.' (COLUM McCANN)
'A haunting, hypnotic love story of two damaged souls. Barry's talent is breath-taking - he is a true original and, once again, words obey his call. This is a propulsive read from a writer at the height of his powers.' (MARY COSTELLO)
What listeners say about The Heart in Winter
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- edward
- 12-06-24
another top shelf Barry
best thing since Bohane. all the blood, love and poetry you'd want. but this time out west.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- peter d o brien
- 04-07-24
You can take the man out of Ireland….
Kevin Barry writes with a poets heart, an Irish poets heart. He seems to know the very soul of the Paddy at home and away from it, in the heart of the American wilds which he describes viscerally. It’s a pleasure to listen to the author himself reading.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 09-06-24
Another gem
This man does not miss. Beautiful, haunting, evocative of a world at once familiar and utterly alien.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- stan
- 14-07-24
A must listen/ read experience.
Mr Barry will drag you ( effin drag you) into a world not so long past and not so far away, a love story a story of hope . no plot giveaway s from me but ....Wonderful yarn of
the old very wild west. The authors narration is outstanding.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cathy Power
- 14-07-24
Lovely poetic turn of phrase
A road story in sweet Irish words. It is a long poem. The voice is magic.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 06-08-24
Wonderful
As usual with Kevin Barry, the delivery and the language and the story is fantastic.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Leslie Williams
- 20-09-24
a tour de force
brilliantly read by the author, a vibrant tragi-comic western love story. the language sings throughout
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tricia Parker
- 31-10-24
Wonderful language to draw you into the world of Tom and Polly
The very first chapter was difficult for me but once Tom emerged from his drunken, doped tatters I was hooked. A terrific story with so many twists and turns and the language always seductive. Kevin Barry's reading was superb.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nichola D
- 23-09-24
Barry’s poetic style, the story and his voice reading it.
I love his books, his style is emotionally compelling, Like reading poetry, didn’t want the book to end. Must look for more!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Plamen Penev
- 06-07-24
Amazing language skills as usual
This is probably the second best Barry's book after "The city of Bohan" (which remains the one and only) . Captivating love story with survival and some violence. The only thing I did not like was the last two chapters. It feels like it could have a happy ending in a more traditional way.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!