To be fair, it takes a little while to get into the 19th Century American-Irish language Kevin Barry uses in his novel “The Heart in Winter” – but it’s effort well-rewarded.
A splendidly paced and rattling good tale, I have just sat and read the last 100 pages in a single sitting (which is about 45% of the book). Like all good books with a strong narrative thread (see my review of “The Winter Soldier“) Barry keeps multiple ending options open for as long as he can, the denouement coming only in the last 10 pages or so. It is an ending which is not contrived and – ultimately – unsurprising, but none the less effective for all of that.
This is the third of Barry’s novels I have read – and I suspect it won’t be the last.
Ian Gouge - Writer 