The Winter Inside

Product Description Nick is a bored, thirty-something art teacher, with a long backlist of doomed romances. Wendy is an aspiring young artist, whose family life is killing her. Nick and Wendy meet and fall in love, and their world starts to spin out of control. They keep on the move. As relationships blend and friendships strain, they travel through obscure towns to the mountains of Scotland, driven on by the man who pursues them. With The Winter Inside, Christopher Kenworthy has written a beautiful and extraordinary tale of warped need and love on the run. Born in Britain in 1968, Christopher Kenworthy now lives in Australia. The Winter Inside is his first novel. From Publishers Weekly This tale of crash-and-burn love in 1990s Britain is half road-movie, half travelogue of the soul. Redolent with tossed-off but alluring hints of inner exploration, it occasionally rises to moments of surprising suspense. As the novel begins, Nick, a young art teacher, receives a call from an old girlfriend, Wendy. The call triggers a book-length recollection of their affair, a mix of unbridled sexuality and spiritual solace. The two artists fall in love quickly and easily. They have an introspective, off-again-on-again relationship, more on than off. Then Nick accompanies Wendy and her mother, Linda, as they flee from Wendy's quietly ominous and potentially violent father, Laurence, who follows the trio across England, from one country inn to another. Always amorous, Nick begins having sex with Linda, left wanton by her passionless marriage, until she ends up back with Laurence. In the present, three years after Nick and Wendy's last breakup, Wendy has called Nick because she has plunged into abject depression. She drifts in and out of hospitals, coming to a jarringly sad end. Kenworthy aptly captures Nick's disenchanted, youthful voice, that of a sensitive person who is unsure what to do with his life but has lived enough to understand human nature. Although the rambling character of his thoughts mutes the tale somewhat, the twists and turns of the plot are still captivating. At times the drifting lives of Kenworthy's characters seem hardly worth chronicling, but the book's observant protagonist, reminiscent of one of Irvine Welsh's misanthropes, keeps our attentions focused. Kenworthy is a master of the believable, and here he has written a stingingly bittersweet novel. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Nick, a thirtysomething art teacher, has a penchant for dating 19-year-olds. His history with women is pathetic until he meets Wendy, an aspiring artist. They fall in love and in bed and back out with seesaw-like regularity. He supports her through a difficult family situation and befriends Wendy's mother as the two women attempt escape from a manipulative, abusive father-husband. Nick discovers a heroic, strong side of himself that he never knew existed as he helps them cope with their fear and begin to live independently. As Wendy's mental health rapidly spirals out of control, part of his love is learning how to let go. Kenworthy accurately captures the despair of helpless love. Ellie Barta-MoranCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Review 'A fabulous, assured debut novel. Events are brilliantly, sometimes perfectly described. The Winter Inside is unreservedly recommended.'- Interzone'From the start, Kenworthy's skill with words blazes through. He plants ideas in subtle and disturbing ways. Kenworthy really is a natural storyteller.'- Time Out 'Kenworthy is one of our best and most versatile imaginative writers. His invention is matched only by his gift for character, his humanity and his ability to draw you, quietly and cleverly into his fascinating and original stories. He is a writer of substantial gifts.'- Michael Moorcock'Kenworthy's debut novel is exceptional. It's a fierce and combative piece of work.'- The Third Alternative 'The Winter Inside i