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The Winter Wives: A Novel
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A thrilling new psychological drama from Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Linden MacIntrye, weaving threads of crime, disability and dementia together into a tale of unrequited love and delusion.
Two old friends, who first met in university, get together for a weekend of Allan, a football hero, worldly and financially successful, and his quieter friend, nicknamed Byron, lame from a childhood injury, a smart fellow who became a lawyer but who has never left home, staying put so he could care for a mother with Alzheimer's.
During a long night of drinking, the fault lines between them start to show. One of the the two men married sisters, though Allan was the one who walked down the aisle with Peggy, the sister both of them loved, and Byron had to settle for Annie.
Out on the course the next morning, Allan suffers a stroke. In one traumatic moment, he loses control of his life, his wife and his business empire, which turns out to have been built on lies and the illegal drug trade. And Byron has to suddenly confront his own weaknesses and strengths, his tangled relationship with Allan and the Winter sisters—both the one he married and the one he thought was the love of his life. No one will anticipate the lengths to which Byron will go to make sense of his life.
A thrilling new psychological drama from Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Linden MacIntrye, weaving threads of crime, disability and dementia together into a tale of unrequited love and delusion.
Two old friends, who first met in university, get together for a weekend of Allan, a football hero, worldly and financially successful, and his quieter friend, nicknamed Byron, lame from a childhood injury, a smart fellow who became a lawyer but who has never left home, staying put so he could care for a mother with Alzheimer's.
During a long night of drinking, the fault lines between them start to show. One of the the two men married sisters, though Allan was the one who walked down the aisle with Peggy, the sister both of them loved, and Byron had to settle for Annie.
Out on the course the next morning, Allan suffers a stroke. In one traumatic moment, he loses control of his life, his wife and his business empire, which turns out to have been built on lies and the illegal drug trade. And Byron has to suddenly confront his own weaknesses and strengths, his tangled relationship with Allan and the Winter sisters—both the one he married and the one he thought was the love of his life. No one will anticipate the lengths to which Byron will go to make sense of his life.
344 pages, Paperback
First published July 27, 2021
34 people are currently reading
1226 people want to read
About the author
Linden MacIntyre
15 books188 followersLinden MacIntyre is the co-host of the fifth estate and the winner of nine Gemini Awards for broadcast journalism. His most recent book, a boyhood memoir called Causeway: A Passage from Innocence won both the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction and the Evelyn Richardson Prize for Non-Fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 172 reviews
April 7, 2021
I knew the Winter sisters from high school. We moved in different circles at university, but I’d see one or both from time to time and, like everybody else, they seemed to be intrigued by my apparent friendship with the Great Chase. If I could have seen the future, it wouldn’t have surprised me that, one day, he and Peggy Winter would be close. They were beings from the same genetic pool. Like Allan, she was tall, athletic. She followed sports, and could discuss team standings as if they really mattered to her. She was, physically, unlike her sister, Annie, who was classically blond with startling blue eyes. Peggy’s hair was auburn, her eyes deep-set and dark, some days green and some days hazel, depending on the light. Allan never seemed to notice Peggy at the time, which I found odd. Then I discovered that feigning indifference is sometimes a subtle tactic to get attention. And it worked for Allan. Peggy wasn’t used to being overlooked.
The Winter Wives is an intriguing, moody read. Author Linden MacIntyre sets us down in medias res — a round of golf with two old friends, we learn that their wives are sisters, one of the men collapses — and it takes the rest of the book to fill in just who these people are, how they met, what they do, what compelling circumstances led to that golf game...and what happens next. And even with all of these questions answered, the reader is still left wondering: can we really ever know another person, or for that matter, ourselves? I see that the publisher is calling this a “thrilling psychological drama”, and I don’t know if that quite captures what’s going on here — but as an examination of memory, relationships, lies, and losses, MacIntyre has written a compelling novel that left me with plenty to think on. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
When Allan fell, we were at the tee on the tenth hole of a golf course. It would take a long time to absorb the full impact of what happened there. Up close, death is like a mountain we happen to be standing on. Maybe we can see a piece of it, but the whole remains unreal until there’s distance.
We follow the first person POV of Byron — a rural Nova Scotia lawyer who helped his widowed mother run a farm and a lobster boat while attending university — and as his recollections meander across the events of his life, we learn that his friendship with the imposing Allan (a fellow student, on a football scholarship from Toronto, who’ll do anything to get rich) is his most important and pivotal relationship. When Allan eventually marries local beauty Peggy Winter and whisks her away to a jetsetting life in the sun, Byron will more or less stumble into a marriage with her sister Annie; an apparently less ambitious woman than her sister who is satisfied to stay home on the farm and help take care of Byron’s mother as she deteriorates with Alzheimer’s. Although the two couples don’t seem to spend much time physically together over the years, their business affairs will become intricately enmeshed; and as Allan’s health rapidly declines via a series of strokes, Byron will need to get to the bottom of what has really been going on for all this time.
Annie once explained her theory that memory is a parallel reality. Basically, an extended falsehood, a lifelong lie. At best, a kind of literature. But for me, memory is embedded in sensations, not narrative. Sound and smell. Touch. Music. Aroma. Colour. Revulsion from the smell of blood. Muddy lanes and sodden fields in spring. Fresh-cut hay in summer. The tang of apples in the fall. I associate particular events with certain seasonal conditions.The sharp heat of August feels unlike the warmth of a mellow morning in September or October; autumn has its own unique sensual pungency. And so I can, with relative certainty, “remember” that the series of events I am going to try to reconstruct happened mostly in the autumn and the winter of an extraordinary year. Ironically, I clearly remember the moment when I was told that there was a very real possibility that I could lose important aspects of my individuality. Memory, for one. Ultimately, my independence. Specifically, I recall the particular chill of a winter rainfall.
Due to a traumatic childhood injury (that left him with a limp, repressed memories, and an enduring concussion-related brain fog), Byron seems oddly detached from himself and his own experiences. As he approaches sixty, and having had a mother with dementia, Byron worries that he’s about to lose even more of himself — right at the moment he learns that the people around him may not be who they appear to be. Reality is confused by what people are led to believe (especially in the courtroom and in the gossiping community); people have fake names and nicknames (even “Byron” is a nickname that Peggy gave to the main character in high school because of his limp); the narrative explores foggy questions of consent, abuse, and suicide (medically assisted and a leap from a bridge); and I’m left wondering why this book is titled The Winter Wives instead of “The Winter Sisters” (if they kept their maiden name after marriage, it’s never mentioned, so I wonder if MacIntyre is hinting at a fundamental marriage-long lack of commitment by the sisters?)
There’s a lot to unearth in The Winter Wives, and with Byron’s faulty memory and disconnectedness, it makes for a compelling, if nebulous, examination of reality and selfhood. Moody is the word that feels most fitting and that ultimately made for a satisfying experience.
September 27, 2021
MacIntyre’s most recent novel is an odd one, and the problems start with the title, which seems increasingly peculiar as the narrative develops. The book focuses far less on the Winter sisters—Peggy and Annie—the “wives” of the title (who remain shadowy, flat characters throughout) than on the unlikely friendship between the men they marry. Byron, the narrator of the story, is an introverted rural Nova Scotian who attended high school with the sisters. He has a history of mostly buried emotional trauma and a physical handicap acquired as a result of a serious accident in childhood. His given name is Angus, but in high school Peggy nicknamed him for the Romantic poet because, like Byron, he limped. The moniker stuck. Though he marries the calm, practical Annie, the alluring Peggy is the one he carries a torch for. He assumes she’s just out of his league. When the two are at university, at Peggy’s request, Byron introduces her to his new friend, the handsome, charismatic Allan Chase, a gifted athlete from Toronto. (Allan had struck up a conversation with Byron one evening as the two waited for the dining hall to open, and the young men subsequently became inseparable, leading some to speculate they were gay.) Peggy eventually marries Allan for reasons that are never clear.
At the time of their casual first meeting, Allan leads Byron to believe that he’s attending the East Coast university on a football scholarship. As the story unfolds, we learn there are lot of other things Allan leads Byron—and any number of others—to believe. It becomes clear to the reader, if not to the rather dim Byron, that Allan is not who he says he is. He’s a shifty character who lacks a moral compass and thrives on risk. When Allan drops out of university to go on the road as a trucker, Byron, who’s determined to attend law school, keeps in touch, even visiting his pal in Toronto and observing one of Allan’s drug deliveries play out. Allan tells Byron that about 99% of the cargo he carries by truck is legal; the other 1%, not so much. Byron, who plays life cautiously, is relatively untroubled by his friend’s “business” activities. As he pursues a law degree, enters the legal profession, and deals with his widowed mother who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, he has little time to keep track of Allan’s activities. A visit to Florida is clarifying, however: Allan appears to have entered the criminal big leagues, dealing with cartels and distributing illicit drugs across North America. He’s got the fancy digs and an art collection to prove he’s made it. He turns to real estate—actually a cover for some heavy-duty money laundering. Both the Winter sisters, who have become accountants, end up working for him. After seeing his law career falter, Byron also joins Allan’s company. In fact, he’s named CEO and manages the legal aspects of the business, serving as signatory to deals whose details he chooses not to understand. Allan has indicated to that he wants his own name kept off the record, telling Byron: “I want you to be me.” Byron happily obliges. He’s always wanted to be Allan or someone like him.
We wouldn’t have a novel, though, if trouble wasn’t brewing. At one point, the police start sniffing around, interested in a particular client and real estate transaction that Byron signed off on. He manages to put the cops off for a while, but his control of matters is limited when Allan has a serious stroke on the golf course and is found to have vascular dementia. There’s a lot that Allan has kept to himself; none of his three friends know the extent of his operations.
All of this provides quite a fascinating premise for a novel, and I found the book’s first two-thirds quite absorbing. However, it’s my impression that the author set up a situation he was unable to satisfactorily resolve. There’s a long stretch in the novel where no one seems to be who he represents himself to be. Add to this confusion yet another factor MacIntyre throws into the mix—that is, that Byron himself may have inherited early-onset Alzheimer’s from his mother. In the end, it all became a bit much for me, and I was unconvinced by the conclusion, which seemed ridiculously pat and underwhelming.
MacIntyre is a well-known Canadian investigative journalist who turned to novel writing in retirement. He received the prestigious Giller Prize for an earlier work of literary fiction, which I’ve not read. In fact, this is the first of his many novels I’ve got to, so I’m unable to say how it measures up to the works that came before. What I can state is that I was disappointed by this novel. The Winter Wives certainly had potential but it lacked the quality I had expected from MacIntyre.
I wish to thank the publisher and Net Galley for providing me with a digital copy of the novel for review purposes.
Rating: 2.5
At the time of their casual first meeting, Allan leads Byron to believe that he’s attending the East Coast university on a football scholarship. As the story unfolds, we learn there are lot of other things Allan leads Byron—and any number of others—to believe. It becomes clear to the reader, if not to the rather dim Byron, that Allan is not who he says he is. He’s a shifty character who lacks a moral compass and thrives on risk. When Allan drops out of university to go on the road as a trucker, Byron, who’s determined to attend law school, keeps in touch, even visiting his pal in Toronto and observing one of Allan’s drug deliveries play out. Allan tells Byron that about 99% of the cargo he carries by truck is legal; the other 1%, not so much. Byron, who plays life cautiously, is relatively untroubled by his friend’s “business” activities. As he pursues a law degree, enters the legal profession, and deals with his widowed mother who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, he has little time to keep track of Allan’s activities. A visit to Florida is clarifying, however: Allan appears to have entered the criminal big leagues, dealing with cartels and distributing illicit drugs across North America. He’s got the fancy digs and an art collection to prove he’s made it. He turns to real estate—actually a cover for some heavy-duty money laundering. Both the Winter sisters, who have become accountants, end up working for him. After seeing his law career falter, Byron also joins Allan’s company. In fact, he’s named CEO and manages the legal aspects of the business, serving as signatory to deals whose details he chooses not to understand. Allan has indicated to that he wants his own name kept off the record, telling Byron: “I want you to be me.” Byron happily obliges. He’s always wanted to be Allan or someone like him.
We wouldn’t have a novel, though, if trouble wasn’t brewing. At one point, the police start sniffing around, interested in a particular client and real estate transaction that Byron signed off on. He manages to put the cops off for a while, but his control of matters is limited when Allan has a serious stroke on the golf course and is found to have vascular dementia. There’s a lot that Allan has kept to himself; none of his three friends know the extent of his operations.
All of this provides quite a fascinating premise for a novel, and I found the book’s first two-thirds quite absorbing. However, it’s my impression that the author set up a situation he was unable to satisfactorily resolve. There’s a long stretch in the novel where no one seems to be who he represents himself to be. Add to this confusion yet another factor MacIntyre throws into the mix—that is, that Byron himself may have inherited early-onset Alzheimer’s from his mother. In the end, it all became a bit much for me, and I was unconvinced by the conclusion, which seemed ridiculously pat and underwhelming.
MacIntyre is a well-known Canadian investigative journalist who turned to novel writing in retirement. He received the prestigious Giller Prize for an earlier work of literary fiction, which I’ve not read. In fact, this is the first of his many novels I’ve got to, so I’m unable to say how it measures up to the works that came before. What I can state is that I was disappointed by this novel. The Winter Wives certainly had potential but it lacked the quality I had expected from MacIntyre.
I wish to thank the publisher and Net Galley for providing me with a digital copy of the novel for review purposes.
Rating: 2.5
August 5, 2021
When Allen is struck down by a debilitating stroke during a game of golf with his friend and business partner Byron, the relationship between the two begins to deteriorate. Life-long friends from college – each married to one of a pair of sisters – have to now come up with a plan to deconstruct their business empire built atop drugs and money-laundering while Allen is still cognitive enough to do so.
Byron is dealing with his own problems. Dementia, a disease that claimed the life of his mother several years earlier, is threatening to afflict Byron as well. Can Byron keep his wits about him in the face of mounting legal issues and an alleged conspiracy to oust him from the company he, Allen and the Winter Sisters built?
It has been nearly two years since my last run-in with Linden MacIntyre when I picked up his non-fiction book, THE WAKE – the story about a deadly tsunami that ravaged the coast of Newfoundland. I absolutely loved that one, so when I saw he had a new novel on the way, I jumped at the chance to read it.
McIntyre takes us through the current medical and legal upheaval affecting the lives of the four main characters, while also throwing in flashbacks to help to flesh out the story as the narrative moves along. It’s clear when Linden elects to jump around, so I was never lost or confused as to when a certain event was taking place. There were points where I had a hard time putting down the book as there were explosive allegations and moments where the action moved forward without time to take so much as a breath.
With all that said – there is a moment about three quarters of the way through the story that completely took me out of it. For the majority of the book, I really found myself identifying with Byron and his standoffish nature, his reluctance to move away from his homestead in Nova Scotia where he somewhat secluded himself from the real-world consequences and day-to-day operations of the company Allen and the Winter Sisters built. However, he does something so seemingly out of character and so repulsive that once it happens, I had a hard time getting back into the story. I more or less limped over the finish line to find out where everything lay when all the dust settled.
With THE WINTER WIVES, Linden doesn’t exactly make a case for any of the four leads being good people, although we get a pretty strong sense that Byron lives by a particular moral code that’s seemingly absent from the other three. Once that is broken however, I feel like I’m still being asked to perceive Byron the same way as the author continues to load piles of sympathy on him. But it feels wrong at this point. If the complexity of the narrative hadn’t been executed so strongly up to that point, I may have just written the whole thing off.
THE WINTER WIVES is essentially a strong, but ultimately flawed novel.
Byron is dealing with his own problems. Dementia, a disease that claimed the life of his mother several years earlier, is threatening to afflict Byron as well. Can Byron keep his wits about him in the face of mounting legal issues and an alleged conspiracy to oust him from the company he, Allen and the Winter Sisters built?
It has been nearly two years since my last run-in with Linden MacIntyre when I picked up his non-fiction book, THE WAKE – the story about a deadly tsunami that ravaged the coast of Newfoundland. I absolutely loved that one, so when I saw he had a new novel on the way, I jumped at the chance to read it.
McIntyre takes us through the current medical and legal upheaval affecting the lives of the four main characters, while also throwing in flashbacks to help to flesh out the story as the narrative moves along. It’s clear when Linden elects to jump around, so I was never lost or confused as to when a certain event was taking place. There were points where I had a hard time putting down the book as there were explosive allegations and moments where the action moved forward without time to take so much as a breath.
With all that said – there is a moment about three quarters of the way through the story that completely took me out of it. For the majority of the book, I really found myself identifying with Byron and his standoffish nature, his reluctance to move away from his homestead in Nova Scotia where he somewhat secluded himself from the real-world consequences and day-to-day operations of the company Allen and the Winter Sisters built. However, he does something so seemingly out of character and so repulsive that once it happens, I had a hard time getting back into the story. I more or less limped over the finish line to find out where everything lay when all the dust settled.
With THE WINTER WIVES, Linden doesn’t exactly make a case for any of the four leads being good people, although we get a pretty strong sense that Byron lives by a particular moral code that’s seemingly absent from the other three. Once that is broken however, I feel like I’m still being asked to perceive Byron the same way as the author continues to load piles of sympathy on him. But it feels wrong at this point. If the complexity of the narrative hadn’t been executed so strongly up to that point, I may have just written the whole thing off.
THE WINTER WIVES is essentially a strong, but ultimately flawed novel.
August 30, 2021
Excitement always builds for me when a new Linden MacIntyre is released. I immediately bought this one the day it was released. It's fairly classic MacIntyre in that he never gives you everything, you have to sift through and come up with your own opinions/thoughts/wonder where the story is going. It's another not as gripping as Punishment (I really did not enjoy The Only Café at all unfortunately) and while The Winter Wives is better then The Only Cafe, I didn't quite understand the point of it all. I didn't care one way or the other for Allan, and really wasn't into this mysterious life of Allan that Byron and the Winter sisters catered their lives around. It didn't make a ton of sense to me.
I don't see this being a Giller contender, which is of course disappointing for me, but I will always be first in line when MacIntyre releases a new book. That will never change. :-)
I don't see this being a Giller contender, which is of course disappointing for me, but I will always be first in line when MacIntyre releases a new book. That will never change. :-)
December 19, 2022
Winter wives came my way through my secret sender, an annual book gifting endeavour that we enjoy in our Canadian Content group. Once I picked it up, it was hard to put down.
It is not an overly dramatic book but slowly builds up the intrigue as the reader gets to know the characters… or does the reader ever really know them?
This was a quick and enjoyable read which has left me pondering.
It is not an overly dramatic book but slowly builds up the intrigue as the reader gets to know the characters… or does the reader ever really know them?
This was a quick and enjoyable read which has left me pondering.
September 7, 2021
I didn't mind this book, but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to people. The characters have a very bizarre relationship that never really made sense to me. It didn't seem to be going anywhere for the first half, and then it got interesting, and then it kind of fizzled out.
September 13, 2021
This was my first book by Linden MacIntyre. I really enjoyed his writing style and the layout of the book. It was easy to follow. I didn't find myself connecting with any of the characters but was still invested in the storyline.
I didn't get the "thrilling psychological drama" aspect. I found this to be a slow read. It didn't really pick up until the last 50 or so pages.
Thanks to ZG Stories and Penguin Random House Canada for my gifted copy!
I didn't get the "thrilling psychological drama" aspect. I found this to be a slow read. It didn't really pick up until the last 50 or so pages.
Thanks to ZG Stories and Penguin Random House Canada for my gifted copy!
December 26, 2021
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was always interested in Canadian journalist, Linden McIntyre's involvement on CBC's Fifth Estate and so I decided it was high time I explore his literary pursuits. The Winter Wives begins with two Nova Scotian schoolboys making friends and also the two women( the Winter sisters) who follow them into adulthood.
This whole book left me underwhelmed. As readers, we are fed tidbits of things in the past to keep us engaged but I just was never really immersed in reading. The whole vehicle is the relationship between the two men and I guess one could say it wasn't always a pleasant place to be.
Publication Date 10/12/21
Goodreads review published 26/12/21
I was always interested in Canadian journalist, Linden McIntyre's involvement on CBC's Fifth Estate and so I decided it was high time I explore his literary pursuits. The Winter Wives begins with two Nova Scotian schoolboys making friends and also the two women( the Winter sisters) who follow them into adulthood.
This whole book left me underwhelmed. As readers, we are fed tidbits of things in the past to keep us engaged but I just was never really immersed in reading. The whole vehicle is the relationship between the two men and I guess one could say it wasn't always a pleasant place to be.
Publication Date 10/12/21
Goodreads review published 26/12/21
September 30, 2021
Ah, finally a novel by a Canadian writer with genuine Canadian settings! I’ve been where the characters have been and I can celebrate that. I truly revelled in the writing - no unnecessary details, lots of showing and very little telling. I enjoyed the characters up to a point, but they kept their secrets so close that I wasn’t able to identify with any of them.
As a character, Byron/Angus wasn't entirely believable. I couldn’t believe that he didn’t grow to understand what happened in the barn when he was a child, I didn’t believe in his 28-year-old virginity, and I didn’t believe that he couldn’t seem to figure out the Winter sisters even though he married one of them. In the novel, they are only wives not women, not people; unexplainable, unexplained, hanging on to their maiden name and to each other. They comprise the title of the book but the book isn’t really about them at all. The issue of names - real, assumed, and bestowed - gave me lots of opportunity for thought and indeed I haven't finished thinking about them. The ending is a bit confusing, maybe because Byron was confused about himself, but we don’t end up knowing much more about him than he knows himself, so there’s not a lot of dramatic irony here. I kept waiting for weepy Shirley to swoop back in and explain the past to Byron, but she just faded away. Maybe another reading at a later date would open this up more for me but for now I’ve had enough of these people. 3 1/2 stars.
As a character, Byron/Angus wasn't entirely believable. I couldn’t believe that he didn’t grow to understand what happened in the barn when he was a child, I didn’t believe in his 28-year-old virginity, and I didn’t believe that he couldn’t seem to figure out the Winter sisters even though he married one of them. In the novel, they are only wives not women, not people; unexplainable, unexplained, hanging on to their maiden name and to each other. They comprise the title of the book but the book isn’t really about them at all. The issue of names - real, assumed, and bestowed - gave me lots of opportunity for thought and indeed I haven't finished thinking about them. The ending is a bit confusing, maybe because Byron was confused about himself, but we don’t end up knowing much more about him than he knows himself, so there’s not a lot of dramatic irony here. I kept waiting for weepy Shirley to swoop back in and explain the past to Byron, but she just faded away. Maybe another reading at a later date would open this up more for me but for now I’ve had enough of these people. 3 1/2 stars.
July 31, 2021
A psychological drama
This dialogue driven tale weaves multiple threads of crime, disability and dementia into a drama of unreciprocated love and misconception.
The main players:
Allan is successful financially
Byron is a lawyer with a lame leg who is taken care of his mother who has Alzheimer.
Peggy and Annie Winter: the two sisters who married them
The plot in a few words:
It all starts when Allan and Byron get together for a weekend of golfing. Out on the course Allan suffers a stroke and loses control of his life, a life built on lies and illegal drug trade. Byron has to confront his weaknesses as well as his strengths and his relationship with Allan, his wife and the one he thoughts was the love of his life....
My thoughts in a few words:
There is a lot going on in this moody drama from repressed memory, traumatic childhood injury to confused reality, to fakes names, abuse, consent and even suicide. The story is mainly told by the characters each their turn as they chit chat back and forth reliving their past and narrating the present.
The style is typical for this author richly written, taut and absorbing, smooth sailing in a steady pace from start to finish with some surprises we hardly see coming. It is also funny and poignant and at times shocking. Layered with love, deceit, friendship this story will leave us wondering if we truly know the people we have known the longest......
I was captivated by this story and enjoyed passing time reading it, although it may be a type of story that is not for everyone.
My thanks to Penguin Random House Canada and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book: these are my thoughts.
This dialogue driven tale weaves multiple threads of crime, disability and dementia into a drama of unreciprocated love and misconception.
The main players:
Allan is successful financially
Byron is a lawyer with a lame leg who is taken care of his mother who has Alzheimer.
Peggy and Annie Winter: the two sisters who married them
The plot in a few words:
It all starts when Allan and Byron get together for a weekend of golfing. Out on the course Allan suffers a stroke and loses control of his life, a life built on lies and illegal drug trade. Byron has to confront his weaknesses as well as his strengths and his relationship with Allan, his wife and the one he thoughts was the love of his life....
My thoughts in a few words:
There is a lot going on in this moody drama from repressed memory, traumatic childhood injury to confused reality, to fakes names, abuse, consent and even suicide. The story is mainly told by the characters each their turn as they chit chat back and forth reliving their past and narrating the present.
The style is typical for this author richly written, taut and absorbing, smooth sailing in a steady pace from start to finish with some surprises we hardly see coming. It is also funny and poignant and at times shocking. Layered with love, deceit, friendship this story will leave us wondering if we truly know the people we have known the longest......
I was captivated by this story and enjoyed passing time reading it, although it may be a type of story that is not for everyone.
My thanks to Penguin Random House Canada and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book: these are my thoughts.
December 30, 2021
I really did not like this book. I kept reading, hoping it would somehow coalesce or precipitate into meaning. It really didn't for me. I have never in my life rated a book one-star. I'm embarrassed I even finished.
Protagonist Byron is unlikeable and daft. It goes beyond even a literary suspension of disbelief. The author's constant clanging of the scene in the barn does nothing to shake any memories loose for Byron, meanwhile any half-awake reader has it sorted from the first mention. For someone who was apparently smart enough to pass the bar and become a lawyer, he is surely the dumbest man I've encountered. He is clueless in a way that defies all explanation.
Allan, Peggy, and Annie add nothing of interest to the story. They are two-dimensional, unlikeable stock additions that barely serve to flesh out even a slightly better understanding of Byron.
I had the slightest glimmer of hope when, after making it 70% through the book, it seemed perhaps Allan was actually interesting and something might really go somewhere.
It didn't.
Protagonist Byron is unlikeable and daft. It goes beyond even a literary suspension of disbelief. The author's constant clanging of the scene in the barn does nothing to shake any memories loose for Byron, meanwhile any half-awake reader has it sorted from the first mention. For someone who was apparently smart enough to pass the bar and become a lawyer, he is surely the dumbest man I've encountered. He is clueless in a way that defies all explanation.
Allan, Peggy, and Annie add nothing of interest to the story. They are two-dimensional, unlikeable stock additions that barely serve to flesh out even a slightly better understanding of Byron.
I had the slightest glimmer of hope when, after making it 70% through the book, it seemed perhaps Allan was actually interesting and something might really go somewhere.
It didn't.
October 27, 2021
THE WINTER WIVES by Linden MacIntyre is a psychological drama, weaving threads of crime, disability and dementia together in a tale of unrequited love and delusion.
The story is told from Byron's point of view. Byron is the nickname Peggy gave Angus in high school. Byron and Allan Chase marry the Winter sisters - Annie and Peggy.
"The Winter Wives tells a deceptively quiet story about friendship and secrets, which gradually reveals itself to be a gorgeous meditation on whether we can ever truly know the people we've loved the longest and the most." Quote by Lynn Coady, author of Watching You Without Me
4.5 stars
The story is told from Byron's point of view. Byron is the nickname Peggy gave Angus in high school. Byron and Allan Chase marry the Winter sisters - Annie and Peggy.
"The Winter Wives tells a deceptively quiet story about friendship and secrets, which gradually reveals itself to be a gorgeous meditation on whether we can ever truly know the people we've loved the longest and the most." Quote by Lynn Coady, author of Watching You Without Me
4.5 stars
January 15, 2022
Beautifully written, The Winter Wives is the story of Angus aka Byron, a small town lawyer in Malignant Cove, NS, and his lifelong friendship with Allan Chase, a mover/shaker/law breaker. At times difficult to read, it touches on pedophilia, suicide, and Alzheimers, but mostly, it's about how friendship, love, and loss can define our lives. If you're looking for something light and uplifting, this is not the book for you. If you're looking for lyrical prose that takes a no-holds-barred look at the underbelly of life, it is. I loved it.
February 26, 2023
I am having trouble writing a review for this book. I liked it. An interesting story. With lots of things that where the reader is left out wonder what might have happened. It's not all clear or straight forward. So a lot like life.
March 26, 2024
Years ago I read The Bishop's Man by MacIntyre, and I really liked the writing style. I have always wanted to read another one of his books. I'm not sure that I could do justice to a review, but I can say that I was pulled into the story, and really couldn't stop thinking about it.
The story takes place in Nova Scotia, Canada, and the author really gives us a sense of place.
The story takes place in Nova Scotia, Canada, and the author really gives us a sense of place.
July 10, 2021
The first chapter drew me in, but then my interest waned. I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters and the numerous “f” words irritated me. The pace of the story did pick up in the second half of the book and there are twists and turns other readers might find enjoyable. I’m sorry to not be more positive. The author is obviously very talented but the book just didn’t do anything for me. I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway and this is my honest review.
…To me, reading Peggy Winter has always been like reading poetry…
…To me, reading Peggy Winter has always been like reading poetry…
October 10, 2021
I loved the beginning of this book, when two old friends were playing golf and suddenly one of them collapses, apparently of a stroke. But for me the book rather lost its way after that. Despite the title, I did not ever seem to find out much about the Winter sisters, Peggy and Annie. Instead, it seemed much more about Byron, real name Angus, and also possibly his old friend, Allan. In the end, I was really not sure what story the author was trying to tell. I did love all the local place names that were so familiar.
August 25, 2021
This had a very straight forward writing style that I found easy to read and follow. There were times when I thought I didn’t really care for any of the characters but the story line itself kept me engaged. I do enjoy a story at least partially set in my home province. #indigoemployee
August 13, 2021
3.5 Stars
Lifelong friends since university, Byron and Allan are enjoying a game of golf when Allan has a stroke. Faced with his mortality, Allan decides he needs to make some decisions concerning his extensive business empire. He enlists the help of his wife, Peggy Winter; her sister and Byron’s wife, Annie Winter, who has served as his accountant; and Byron who has been his lawyer for many of his deals. At the same time, Byron is worried about showing the early signs of dementia which claimed his mother.
Byron, the narrator, admits that he and Allan are a “strange pair. Two guys who didn’t have a thing in common.” Their friendship seems unlikely. Allan is the wheeler-dealer who lives in Toronto. Byron tells his wife that, ‘’Allan is my oldest friend. I’d trust him with my life. But Allan is a criminal.” Byron, meanwhile, is a lawyer reluctant to move from his family homestead in rural Nova Scotia. Because of a traumatic childhood injury, he has been left with a limp and a faulty memory.
Neither Byron nor Allan is particularly likeable. Allan’s financial success has been built on drugs and money laundering; Byron is aware of his friend’s shady dealings and even facilitates them, though he keeps himself at a distance from day-to-day operations and chooses not to look too closely. Byron claims to have spent sleepless nights debating “the fine line between protecting and enabling,” before agreeing to work for Allan, but there is little evidence of an ethical struggle. He justifies his actions by arguing that “everything we do is compromised at some point. We survive by compromise, by moral flexibility." Then, any sympathy I felt for Byron is eradicated after an encounter between him and Peggy.
The book asks whether we can really know people: “Byron. Annie. Peggy. Allan. Always strangers to each other, always strangers to ourselves. Who are we?” Byron states, “People are inscrutable surfaces. They are social fabrications, concealing private lives that are unknowable.” Of course, some people make certain they are unknowable. Allan, for example, has a phobia about signing anything. He also used different names: “Allan had many names – inventions he could use when necessary then leave behind, as irrelevant as worn-out shoes. A name is a persona, he’d say, and a persona has no substance.” Peggy describes her husband as “a fiction, a creative enterprise that he’s been working on for decades.”
Byron thinks he knows Allan: “A name is only a name. Identity is something else, something deep and private, shared only with those who, over time, we come to trust. I took for granted that the list of people he trusted was very short. Me and Annie. And obviously, Peggy.” Byron tells Peggy that he knows “the Allan he’s always wanted me to know” but it becomes clear there is much he doesn’t know. A mystery in the novel is who Allan really is.
The book is being described as a thrilling psychological drama, but I didn’t find it especially thrilling. It is not fast paced enough to be a thrilling. I also did not find it to be as compelling a read as I had expected because I found it difficult to care about what happened to the characters. And the idea that people may not be what they seem is hardly original.
Note: I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
Lifelong friends since university, Byron and Allan are enjoying a game of golf when Allan has a stroke. Faced with his mortality, Allan decides he needs to make some decisions concerning his extensive business empire. He enlists the help of his wife, Peggy Winter; her sister and Byron’s wife, Annie Winter, who has served as his accountant; and Byron who has been his lawyer for many of his deals. At the same time, Byron is worried about showing the early signs of dementia which claimed his mother.
Byron, the narrator, admits that he and Allan are a “strange pair. Two guys who didn’t have a thing in common.” Their friendship seems unlikely. Allan is the wheeler-dealer who lives in Toronto. Byron tells his wife that, ‘’Allan is my oldest friend. I’d trust him with my life. But Allan is a criminal.” Byron, meanwhile, is a lawyer reluctant to move from his family homestead in rural Nova Scotia. Because of a traumatic childhood injury, he has been left with a limp and a faulty memory.
Neither Byron nor Allan is particularly likeable. Allan’s financial success has been built on drugs and money laundering; Byron is aware of his friend’s shady dealings and even facilitates them, though he keeps himself at a distance from day-to-day operations and chooses not to look too closely. Byron claims to have spent sleepless nights debating “the fine line between protecting and enabling,” before agreeing to work for Allan, but there is little evidence of an ethical struggle. He justifies his actions by arguing that “everything we do is compromised at some point. We survive by compromise, by moral flexibility." Then, any sympathy I felt for Byron is eradicated after an encounter between him and Peggy.
The book asks whether we can really know people: “Byron. Annie. Peggy. Allan. Always strangers to each other, always strangers to ourselves. Who are we?” Byron states, “People are inscrutable surfaces. They are social fabrications, concealing private lives that are unknowable.” Of course, some people make certain they are unknowable. Allan, for example, has a phobia about signing anything. He also used different names: “Allan had many names – inventions he could use when necessary then leave behind, as irrelevant as worn-out shoes. A name is a persona, he’d say, and a persona has no substance.” Peggy describes her husband as “a fiction, a creative enterprise that he’s been working on for decades.”
Byron thinks he knows Allan: “A name is only a name. Identity is something else, something deep and private, shared only with those who, over time, we come to trust. I took for granted that the list of people he trusted was very short. Me and Annie. And obviously, Peggy.” Byron tells Peggy that he knows “the Allan he’s always wanted me to know” but it becomes clear there is much he doesn’t know. A mystery in the novel is who Allan really is.
The book is being described as a thrilling psychological drama, but I didn’t find it especially thrilling. It is not fast paced enough to be a thrilling. I also did not find it to be as compelling a read as I had expected because I found it difficult to care about what happened to the characters. And the idea that people may not be what they seem is hardly original.
Note: I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
October 2, 2021
The Winter Wives is a finely crafted character study of four friends, their traumas and misadventures through life. Allan Chase is the football hero, Byron, the narrator who has played second fiddle all his life….Peggy is Allan’s wife - but she loves Byron and Annie is her sister and is married to Byron. As they become embroiled in Allan’s illegal business dealings, some chips are going to fall and life is going to turn a dreadful corner.
January 6, 2023
A book I wanted to like more than I actually did. I think I found the whole money laundering business aspect of it beyond my grasp and understanding. But loved the characters. It was a challenging book because the characters must in for each other’s intentions and means. That means the reader must also do so! For me, the plot was bogged down by this. I felt there were areas where clarity was lost and therefore meaning was lost too.
October 21, 2021
I’m never disappointed with MacIntyre’s books, “The Winter Wives”in places is muddled and cloudy perhaps to make you feel like the protagonist , Byron, who thinks he has memory loss/confusion? Either way I enjoyed the journey.
November 2, 2025
I don’t think this is a psychological thriller. Definitely not a thriller. It was a quiet, contemplative read. I liked Byron and Nick but neither of the sisters or Allan. I loved the description of life in the small town and on the water.
December 16, 2025
3.5 really. Maybe almost a 4? Really tricky to rate as I enjoyed the writing style very much, and felt drawn to the narrator…but plot-wise it just didn’t quite engage me ultimately as much as I’d hoped it would. And I’d really been hoping for a bigger twist. Not sure why it has this title, either…but you’d have to read it yourself to see what I mean!
Want to read
January 6, 2023Shout out to Jane Campion for familiarizing me with Psycho-drama.
May 30, 2022
Sometimes you stumble upon a book and without expectations of any kind, you dive in.
Correction, I expect good things from Linden MacIntyre and he did not disappoint.
Some authors give us consistently good writing, interesting characters and truly unique stories.
This is MacIntyre at his best and I was the lucky reader who found this treasure amongst literally thousands of other choices.
Correction, I expect good things from Linden MacIntyre and he did not disappoint.
Some authors give us consistently good writing, interesting characters and truly unique stories.
This is MacIntyre at his best and I was the lucky reader who found this treasure amongst literally thousands of other choices.
August 30, 2022
Every time the story hinted at a plot twist it never happened. Anti-climactic and a huge disappointment.
September 19, 2021
Excellent read
Loved the book but I have enjoyed all Linden MacIntyre's novels.
Started to read,couldn't put it down.
Strongly recommend it.
Loved the book but I have enjoyed all Linden MacIntyre's novels.
Started to read,couldn't put it down.
Strongly recommend it.
October 10, 2023
Not thrilling at all, boring.
October 1, 2021
I heard the audio book version and was so turned off by the narrator's attempt at the female voices, I almost stopped listening right off. But I really wanted to like this and curious the premise However, after a bit, I did not like Byron, aka Angus, and just stopped caring about the convoluted, who-is-who plot.
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