The Winter People

The Mountain Novels #5

by John Ehle

While sitting in her 150-year-old cabin in the mountains of North Carolina at the beginning of the Depression, Collie Wright sees furtive figures emerging from the woods on a chilly, near-winter evening. The figures turn out to be clockmaker Wayland Jackson, a widower on his way to Tennessee to seek work, and his 12-year-old daughter, Paula. Wayland's truck has broke down, and the two have lost their way. Collie allows them to stay the night, and Jackson is immediately taken with her. But she is an unmarried woman with a newborn baby and dark secrets, the object of tawdry talk although her family is the most prominent in the community. Jackson stays to become a clock repairman, to build a clock tower for the community_and to court Collie. But the father of Collie's child, a wild young man from a mountain clan long in conflict with her family, soon returns to claim his rights, and a violent showdown forces Collie into the most painful decision of her life. The Winter People became a feature film starring Kurt Russell, Lloyd Bridges, and Kelly McGillis.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

John Ehle (1925-2018) grew up the eldest of five children in the mountains of North Carolina, which would become the setting for many of his novels and several works of nonfiction. Following service in World War II, Ehle received his BA and MA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he met the playwright Paul Green and began writing plays for the NBC radio series American Adventure. He taught at the university for ten years before joining the staff of the North Carolina governor Terry Sanford, where Ehle was a “one-man think tank,” the governor’s “idea man” from 1962 to 1964. (Sanford once said of Ehle: “If I were to write a guidebook for new governors, one of my main suggestions would be that he find a novelist and put him on his staff.”) Ehle was the author of eleven novels, seven of which constitute his celebrated Mountain Novels cycle, and six works of nonfiction. He had one daughter, actress Jennifer Ehle, with his wife Rosemary Harris, also an actress.

Reviews

[Diane Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am completely baffled as to why all of this author's novels are not still in print. He is hands down the best writer of Appalachian fiction I have ever read, and I will say that to Ron Rash if I must. I am sure he would agree with me. He knows mountain people. How they think, how they live, their independence and code of ethics. Their sense of pride and family loyalty. Revenge, retribution, and in this book, some hard won give and take.
Take your pick. You like an intricate plot, great characters of all types, a sense of place? You want murder, adultery, ambition, greed? It's all here. We even get taken along on a bear hunt like no other.

When I picked this off my shelf, I was rewarded with one of my favorite reads of this year.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why is John Ehle so sparsely read? Is it because his books are hard to come by? This book has 330 ratings and 31 reviews, which is shameful, because it is marvelously written and packed with everything you want from Southern/Appalachian literature. A dynamite story, fear, tension, terrific character development, and descriptions that are heart-stopping.

If you have ever stood and looked out over a stretch of the Blue Ridge, you cannot help perfectly visualizing this scene:

He saw Young. He was leisurely walking toward the north. Now he paused to consider streaks of gold in the east. A holy morning, suitable for worship. Wayland walked over to the edge of the divide, to an overlook, with the North Carolina mountains stretching to the horizon. This morning clouds had slept late, were still filling in the valleys around the peaks, so that the peaks resembled toes of a prone giant.

There was a single hawk on the wing, bathing in sunlight, now it dipped down into the clouds to moisten its wings. Now it rose into sunlight again.

I was standing on that mountain in the first paragraph, but IMHO, the addition of the hawk was a bit of genius that made me want to reach out and touch that sky. At the end of Chapter Five, I could honestly say I have been on a bear hunt. By the end of the book, I had an ache in my chest from holding my breath.

Collie Wright is living alone in a cabin with her 6-month old baby. She has refused to tell anyone who the father of the baby is, and her brothers and father are nervous and anxious to know. Wayland Jackson comes down out of the mountains, where his car has stalled, with his teenage daughter in tow, and finds himself standing at Collie’s door.

We know immediately that this is going to get complicated. There are factions in the mountains, the Wrights, the Campbells and the MacGregors barely existing as neighbors and anything, like a stranger who is a clockmaker moving in with a woman and her child, can set a spark to the flame.

A vital nerve had been touched, old and buried, almost forgotten animosities had been laid bare; mindless were days like this one, and the fears rose out of the bowels, not the mind, and were vital, close to the quick. One death caused others.

This is my second Ehle, and not my last. He can truly spin a tale, as my grandpa would say.



.

[Charles White · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books about Appalachia I've read. An undervalued classic.

[Kirsten]

OK, I just gotta say -- GOOD GRIEF. There's a story here, and I'm gonna tell it, because that is what Goodreads is for! I love you, Goodreads! You keep my thoughts alllll organized.

So, I went to a reading by Michael Ondaatje where he promoted his new book the Cat's Table, and he was interviewed (of course) on stage by another writer who name I can't recall (sorry, lady!). Of course, the inevitable question came up -- what are your influences? Ondaatje replied Faulkner of course, then went on to say that one of the best writers he's ever read is John Ehle, that he hails from North Carolina, and that in order to read his books you will probably have to get on Amazon and find someone selling a used copy from their box of books in the basement.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to go that far. My school library carries a couple of his books! Hooray! So I checked this one out, and have been reading it whenever I can catch a spare half hour. Now, on reading it, my first thoughts were hmm. This sounds awful familiar. REAL familiar, in fact. And, you know, come to think of it? DUH. The premise is a woman named Collie, living in the mountains with her bastard baby child Jonathan, who houses and protects a man who came out of the mountains with his young daughter Paula. Collie lives alone due to her family's sense of betrayal over her bastard child, and because she will not tell anyone who the father of her child is. She has three brothers that all live in town, as do her mother and father. Her brothers all have a hard time hiding their jealousy over male attentions to Collie, because, as the novel demonstrates, she is strong, dynamic, and beautiful. The man who comes out of the mountains, and who earns her favor with his own handsome face, Wayland Jackson, is a clockmaker by trade.

SO AM I THE ONLY ONE HERE READING THE SOUND AND THE FURY AGAIN, GUYS? Caddy = Collie (they both have illegitimate children) and her brothers are all so drawn to her by sexual jealously and other unresolved tensions in both books.

It seems that Ehle has, of course, made some substitutions and improvements. For example, instead of the abusive and neglectful father in Jason Compton Sr, in Mr. Wright, Collie's father, we have a kind, generous and intelligent man. Instead of four brothers, Collie has only three --- however, Gudger, who runs the general store and is bitter about his own penchant to work hard (Jason Jr) is both jealous and resentful of Collie because she insists that Wayland sets up shop in a corner of Gudger's store (in the Sound and the Fury, Jason grinds his ax continuously about Caddy costing him his job). Wayland Jackson, the new apple of Collie's eye, is a clockmaker, and sets up shop to repair clocks. Wayland mirrors the character of Quentin in the Sound of the Fury, who is plagued by the passage of time throughout his section, and who is one of the more tenderly and intimately devoted brothers of Caddy, and who appeared to have a blatant sexual interest in her.

AND, of course, time is a persistent symbol and theme of Sound and the Fury as well. Ok, I'm not even done with this guys. I just had to freak out for a minute and write this down somewhere, because I like it when dots connect.

Also, get this: John Ehle had a daughter named Jennifer Ehle, who became an actress. I am also taking a Jane Austen course this semester, and we're currently reading Pride and Prejudice, and watching the BBC (Colin Firth) version. And uh, of course! Why should it surprise me that Jennifer Ehle stars in this version, playing the role of Elizabeth Bennett?

I love being a nerd.

[Chuck LoPresti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I imagine some day people will wake up to what John Ehle offers. He's a great writer. Ehle combines historical accuracy with strong prose skill. He balances an exciting story with psychological insight to great results. This is probably my 5th read from him and while it's hard to top the Land Breakers - this book might be the best introduction. Everyone else here has covered the basic plot details - and yes it's a great story - but had the writing been plot-less I would have liked it no less. If you're familiar with Banffy's Trilogy, this works much the same way. Both writers do a great service to their regional literature for similar reasons. The land is a character in this book, and there's a long-viewed wisdom that emanates from the pages. Add in some adventure, romance, and a bit of tempered moralizing and you have a really solid read. If American students were reading this instead of a thousand other books that have nothing to do with their lives - we'd be serving students well. The Road, Trail of Tears, Land Breakers and this belong in every high school library in this country.

[Sydney E · Rating 5 out of 5]

a lovely, lovely story/snapshot of a small mountain community. i was wondering where this was going to go and then i was wondering how the hell it could end well and then my mouth dropped when i realized what was happening!! so well done, I’ll read anything of Ehle’s. A master at capturing our simplest of interactions and how complex they can be.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read by John Ehle. This is #5 in the Land Breakers series and it does not disappoint. I rarely stay with a series this long but it’s been fun reading these with a friend.
This installment has a recent Widower and his daughter moving to a new life when his truck breaks down and they walk to the nearest cabin inhabited by a young single mother. This book was also made into a movie, which I haven’t seen yet. The main character is played by Kirt Russell which disappointed and annoyed me so not sure I’ll try to find the movie. Oh well there’s enough violence in the book that would discourage me from watching the movie anyway but as a book it was tolerable.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've said it before and I'll say it again--and I know it's blasphemous to book snobs--but Ehle might be the best southern writer America has produced thus far. Yes, he is better than Faulkner. He's kind of like a Faulkner who lacks a classical education and European snootiness that infected a lot of authors back in the day. Ehle is authentic, warm in his style, funny, and better at what Faulkner tried to do, I think. His stories are slender and often touching, with a flashpan sort of violence that is cinematic in is abruptness upon the senses.
The Winter People is the fifth of seven novels in what is called Ehle's "Mountain" series. The novels follow the lives and stories of a handful of families in a fictional west North Carolinian-Appalachian community, largely focusing on the Wright family, with the Kings popping up every now and then. The books are loosely linked, largely by blood. This one focuses on Collie Wright, a single mother in the early 1930s, Depression-era mountain town, unmarried and somewhat stiffed by her family. One day a northern clockmaker and his daughter wander down the hill, meet Collie who takes them in and all the inevitable things happen. When I say Ehle is warm, I mean he is not afraid to pander to sentiment. This is a love story, but it is also an end-of-love story, centered around the vulnerabilities and vagaries of Appalachian family life, for when the father of Collie's baby shows up, shit starts to hit the fan.
But it as much a funny novel as a tender one, with that peculiar Southern dialogue peppered with irony and humor that you don't get to hear much of these days, so valuable in that way as well.

[Janet Hartman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book deals with multiple moral issues faced by two opposing large N.C. mountain families in the 1930s. They're not feuding, but they live in separate areas of their community and live by separate codes. Children are taught to stick with their own kind, but not all obey.

The relatively simple language used by the author and the strong female character, Collie, a single women living alone with her babe in a cabin, immediately drew me in. On a cold winter night, she shelters a stranger and his daughter when they wander out of the snowy woods to her cabin after their truck breaks down. Collie is at the core of the turmoil that erupts later in the book and struggles with her family and the stranger to find a solution.

The book has multiple plot points that made me wonder what I would do in that situation, and the answers were, and remain, rarely clear.

I did not give the book 5 stars because, although I found some of the characters sympathetic, I felt that they did not completely reveal themselves to each other or to the reader. People in small communities often act that way so maybe that was the author's intent. I just felt a small sense of distance between them and me until the very end.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book begins with a widowed clockmaker and his young daughter landing stranded at the doorstep of the pretty, unwed mother of an infant. The mother and clockmaker quickly develop a rapport and fall in love, each finding something they need in the other. The clockmaker’s daughter also responds to having a warm, new mother figure, and a baby to help care for, a family.
The unwed mother, Collie, lives as a bit of an exile. Her own mother disdains her, and the identity of the infant's father is a mystery to most. While Collie already seems to have cooled to her absent partner, the appearance of the clockmaker makes it final, since he shows her what a loving, supportive man is like.
Of course it all goes great until absent partner returns! There is then a violent fight with terrible consequences.
I enjoyed the book. It was a solid plot with good characters and an evocative setting. Except for the bear hunt, the whole story goes down pretty fast. The writing was natural and flowed without $10 words or awkward turns of phrase. Some of it was impressive:
"Wayland could smell honey, so he supposed one of the fallen trees had had bees in it. Honey was a night smell, he decided, was particularly delicious and mouth-tingling to have floating around in this black crispness. Bear come along, break open the fallen trunk, fill his belly with honey...
"That thought struck him with a chill, and he sat flat down on the ground and stared about, glaring at the fire-lighted door of the hunting shack, considering this new idea, thinking about honey and the bear, wondering if he were to be the first one to see the bear, if this honey were to be the strangeness, the attraction of the day, and he, the newcomer, the outlander, to be the benefactor, the slayer of the bear."

The consequences of the fight with Collie’s former lover leaves everyone with gravely difficult decisions and confessions to make. The atonement that is asked is hard to bear, yet beautiful. The scene of love and sacrifice is one I can’t imagine forgetting.
To make it more poignant for me it’s worth mentioning that this is one of the last books my mother read before she died last month. I had ordered it and sent it to her to read first, and she gave me the daily blow-by-blow on the phone: first, how she found the bear hunt tedious, then how the story grew more interesting and in the end was terrific and we should order more books by this author. I found her handwritten list of the author’s books on her desk.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Ehle is the best story teller! This is part of a series of books where the lead characters are the Wright family, living in the Smokies.

Even though these settlers and their descendants did not have the modern technology we have today, it in no way affected the richness, or lack thereof, of their relationships, emotions, and the fullness of life. He can keep you on the edge of your chair.

I’m also taken by some of the old ways. Plott hounds - for tracking bear. Preparing the dead for burial when there is no undertaker and it must be done by the community.
Ehle has a balanced perspective, like the senior Wright, the patience of nature, insight and the quality of acceptance when there is no thoughtful action to be taken.

“The Land Breakers” and “The Road” are a couple of other books in the series I recommend. I think they might be 1st and 2nd respectively. I’ve read 5 or 6 Ehle books and thoroughly enjoyed them all. Just finished “The Great Gatsby” by Fitzgerald and I can tell you it did not hold a candle to these stories.

[Press 53 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book five of John Ehle's (Ee-Lee) seven-book Appalachian series that Ehle called his "mountain books." The Winter People begins with Waylon Jackson, a widowed clockmaker from Pennsylvania, and his young daughter, making their way on foot down a mountain in search of help after thier car breaks down in route to Tennessee. They find their way to the single mother Collie Wright and her baby son, living in the cabin built by Mooney Wright in The Land Breakers (book one). This pre-Depression mountain comminuty, and Collie Wright, grow on Waylon Jackson, but trouble ensues when the father of Collie's baby returns to claim what he believes is his property. Ehle presents readers with another novel of gritty storytelling and a plot-twist ending that no one will see coming.

First published in 1982 by Harper and reissued in 2017 by Press 53 under their Carolina Classics Editions imprint. The Winter People was made into a movie in 1989, starring Kurt Russell, Kelly McGillis, and Lloyd Bridges.

[Caleb Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the highlights of Ehle's writing, particularly in the first 4 'Mountain Novels' (which cover a period of time between 1790 through the late 1870s) is his detail of the rich landscape that makes up the Western NC mountains. The Winter People strays from this, focusing on a much more restricted setting - and dealing with more taboo (for the times) topics, such as a single mother taking in a widower and his daughter then abpruptly making a home. We also start to see more settlement and commerce in these back coves of the Appalachians in NC. Through all his books, there seems to be a Wright or a King with a store, making them a prominent member of the community. The Winter People is no exception, yet another stray from the typical Ehle novel is that this one includes quite a bit more drama and scandal in the form of a lover's quarrel.

I continue to appreciate Ehle's female characters. Though there is not a Plover in this novel, Collie's independent spirit would make Mina and HenryAnna proud.

[Robynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike with The Land Breakers, I was not as endeared to the characters in The Winter People. Although I warmed up to them by the end, they lack my full respect for some reason I haven't yet put my finger on. In contrast, I can rave about the resolve and admirable qualities of Mooney Wright of The Land Breakers. Even when he made poor choices, I understood his motivations better, I suppose.
Even so, Ehle is still a wonderful writer. In his typical way, he guides the reader close to the commonplace and reveals the complexities. Because of the intimacy, I was very much invested in the events and outcomes. He's able to convince you of the emotion in his characters without needing much to describe their behaviors; instead he writes about how it makes the people near them feel and react and you're able to understand both sides simultaneously. He's brilliant and I will keep on reading him.

[Doris Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved to read books from North Carolina authors. John Ehle goes way back in fiction. But he has written an excellent novel about a small community in the NC mountains. Collie Wright is a single mother back in the time when single moms were looked down upon. Even worse she will not tell who the father was. Then Wayland Jackson and his daughter arrives from Philadelphia. He is recently widowed and a clockmaker who decides to move to another part of the world. He and Paula arrive on Collie's doorstep. Collie is terribly lonely, so she invites them to stay. They become fast friends. But after awhile the father of Collie's child comes home. He is a violent man and is not happy with a strange man staying in Collie's home. Of course, trouble develops which affects the whole community.

[Catherine Philhower · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Winter People is a gorgeous read - rich, colorful tapestry of characters, setting, and plot. This author loves words - measures them out just so, choosing for flavor and piquancy, but never density alone. You won't need a dictionary to get through this - rather, you'll be swept along poetic passages that are very like music.
Characters and plot are equally wonderful, and the early sense off foreboding is alleviated by moments of laughter and sheer beauty - and while this is a story set in North Carolina with warring clans, there's nothing hokey or cliche about it.
Perfect start to the new year!

[Faye Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another memorable book by John Ehle. The story follows the descendants of the Wright and Campbell families in the mountains of NC and Tennessee. The author is a master at developing the characters and the hardships faced by settlers as they live out their lives in the mountains. Cultural lifestyles, traditions, feuds, habits and the conscience of the “mountain folk” are woven throughout the story. While some of their decisions and actions would be unacceptable to us today, in that day, time and place, they were the only decisions they felt they could live with.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This fourth or fifth entry into Ehle's Mountain Series created interest right up front when Collie has a secret about her baby boy Jonathan. As a Wright, she is living in the cabin lived in by Mooney Wright, the character in The Land Breakers, the first in the Mountain Series, which started in 1779. Wright's first wife Imy dies from the harshness of the unsettled land, so Mooney takes Tinker Harrison's daughter Lorry and her children as his second family. Collie Wright is a descendant.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. I chose this book from the library shelf based on the title and first page. I was immediately engaged by the voice and characters. Each page got better and better. At points, I laughed out loud from the dialogue. At points, I cried. A beautiful surprise of a book. I'm looking forward to reading Ehle's other books.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good writing and good story with characters that kept me interested all the way through this tale that takes place around the time of the depression. Tells of feuding families along the NC and Tennessee border that have close ties to the land. The dialog between characters added much to the story.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked most about this book, is the solving of a problem and how to go about that. John Ehle is a good writer, he doesn't leave details dangling. He weaves a good story. Winter People has a strong beginning and offers a solution to a problem that probably was the best of opposing forces working together. It's a good read for an older teen or an adult.

[Debra Diggs]

Cannot decide whether to give this book five stars or one star. While the story and writing were excellent, there was a short section with extreme, horrid, animal cruelty. Well, I loved the book so much that I will try another book by this author. And I will try to block out the animal cruelty.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to the book through the movie, which of course lacked the depth found in the printed page. The book also provided a wealth of biblical allusions I did not find in the film. But the movie, in my opinion, resolved the story more sweetly.

[Sharon Zink · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is set in the Appalachian Mountains in the 1930's. It is the story of an inter-generational feud and a love triangle and how the woman involved solves the feud. Splendid reading.

[S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another wonderful book in this series.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5- Very readable. I’ll read more by this author. I do feel ambivalent about the story.

[Drew Haston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ehle is a master. His ability to capture Appalachia and its people are matched by very few.

[Julie Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

The winter people by Ehle, John
Always interested in reading about nw carolina-the Appalachians. Collie lives with her son Jonathan.
She sees a girl about 13 and her father and a pig. They were not dressed for the winter.
The community and the rest of her family live not far away. The man calls out and he gets closer...he just wants a bit of warmth for them.
She allows them into her house and learns about them.
The traveler clockmaker, Waylan Jackson wants to do his trade there with his daughter. His wife had died and he's on his way to TN to open a store.
They start drinking and he takes to the creek after she shaves him to soap himself up. Other family members think the father has arrived back there...
Her family has put aside a bit of room at the store so he can work his trade...
Her brothers help them out by taking Waylan hunting to find out what kind of a guy he is and if he's good enough for their sister. They talk of martial things also.
Christmas holiday celebrations are detailed and although not like one we had they have enough of what they need-no extravaganzas.
Things heat up when the father of the baby shows up, some violence....She's got a choice to make....
Loved hearing of the 1940's and being able to survive and the nature all around them.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

[Lori Shafer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many years ago, I watched the movie based on this book. Starring Kurt Russell as Wayland Jackson, the movie is one of my favorites.

When I saw this book in the book sale at the library, I decided to add it to my library. I am always curious to see how a book and its movie compares.

I loved the book. It has the charm of the movie. Mr. Jackson and his daughter, Paula, find themselves searching for a new home after the death of his wife. They stumble upon the home of Collie, a single mother of an adorable baby boy, Jonathan. As Wayland and Collie fall in love, Jonathan's father returns.

Thus begins the questions of who killed Jonathan's father, and who will pay for his death?

I can tell this book will become a favorite that I will read over and over again.