“The Heart in Winter” : By Kevin Barry
Set in Montana in 1893, in a frontier town called Butte, this unusal novel is best described as an Irish Western!
A strong contingent of Irish miners have settled there, alongside, amongst others, Croats and some wild rugged Cornishmen. Life is tough for everyone and in particular for Tom Rourke, a poet and balladmaker who has a problem with drink and drugs. He makes ends meet, just about, working for the local photographer, an odd ball in his own right.
It is there that Tom meets Polly Gillespie, newly arrived in town from Chicago who has come to marry the mine captain Long Anthony Harrington, a devout man who believes in self-flagellation. He is someone she had never met but who offers her security and a chance at a new life. Their wedding night passes with her disguising her lack of virginity; a masquerade which reflects the inaccuracy of who her husband naively thought he had married.
Tom and Polly meet when the newlyweds call at the photographer’s for their wedding pictures; their mutual attraction quickly turns to romance and an affair. It is not long before they set off together westbound, over the mountains, on a stolen characterful palomino horse. The flight is funded with money taken from Tom’s landlady, to whom he anyway owed back rent and whose property he sets on fire to try to hide his crime.
We follow the lovers as they escape together through woodlands, endeavouring to travel without being seen so they cannot be followed. Their journey eased as they meet some interesting helpful characters en route. Again some more odd balls. Kevin Barry feeds his reader with interesting individuals.
To save his pride, Long Anthony hires his own posse to pursue them. These are some of the tough Cornishmen, an unappealing trio who set off after the couple.
This pursuit and the subsequent actions turn this love story into a Western adventure. All at a fast pace, creating an enjoyable read. There are not any nice characters involved, even the fleeing lovers. Tom and Polly together are a good loving couple, but with imperfect pasts. What transpires makes this book an easy one to recommend. It is well written, readable and with such an unusual storyline so it really stands out from some of the other current fiction.
