Kevin Barry’s The Heart in Winter is a dreamlike novella that delves into the complexities of human life with an unsentimental and merciless gaze. Set against the backdrop of a small town in Montana in the 1890s, Barry weaves a tale that is at once haunting and curious.

At the centre of the narrative is Tom Rourke, a solitary and enigmatic figure exiled in the west who survives by writing letters for lonesome cowboys and songs for saloons. He is addicted to booze and opium, courtesy of the local ‘celestials’. Barry’s prose is hilarious, archaic and inventive, to wit: ‘On Wyoming Street in the evening a patent Irish stumbled by, some crazy old meathead in a motley of rags and filthy buckskin, wild tufts of hair sticking out the ears, the eyes burning now like hot stars.’

Tom meets the new bride of a wealthy miner and they fall in love at first sight. After stealing a significant amount of money, they run away and are pursued by a group of Cornish men through the wilds of a wintry Montana. This volume earns its keep and sits comfortably on the shelves next to Butcher’s Crossing, Lonesome Dove, Train Dreams or the greatest western of them all, the magnificent Blood Meridian.

The Heart in Winter is a masterful work of fiction that showcases Kevin Barry’s talent for crafting stories that are as profound as they are poetic.