The Heart in Winter

A great big rollicking ballad of a novel. A love story, and a slice of history, in a language as close to song as literature will ever get -- COLUM McCANN
Holy damn, it's good. Includes (arguably) THE finest American frontier 'shroom scene in the Western canon -- DAVID MITCHELL
An absolute belter of a book -- ANNE ENRIGHT
Kevin Barry lights out for the territory and once again comes back with a shining nugget of gold. The Heart in Winter is a glorious and haunted yarn, with all the elements - the doomed lovers, the bounty hunters, the knife-fights and whisky-soaked songs - brought to mysterious life by the heft and polish of the Barry sentence. Marvellous -- JON McGREGOR
Another bloody brilliant little symphony from Barry. Gorgeous -- MAX PORTER
A haunting, hypnotic love story of two damaged souls. Barry's talent is breath-taking - he is a true original and, once again, words obey his call. This is a propulsive read from a writer at the height of his powers -- MARY COSTELLO
If the Coen brothers were to write a novel it would be this. Barry has conjured a magnetic protagonist in Polly -- SHEENA PATEL
Wondrous and bold. I'm in awe of Kevin Barry and endlessly inspired by his work -- LISA McINERNEY
Such a great read, so warm and so completely engaging of the reader's feelings -- MIKE McCORMACK
An Irish western, by turns funny and tragic, full of typically outrageous figures and sublime writing -- ALEX PRESTON * * Observer * *