Name: In the Winter Dark
Rating: 3.75 (4 reviews)
ISBN: 9780143204718

Tim Winton

Night falls, in a lonely valley called the Sink, four people prepare for a quiet evening. Then in his orchard, Murray Jacob sees a moving shadow. Across the swamp, his neighbour Ronnie watches her lover leave and feels her baby roll inside her. And on the verandah of the Stubbs's house, a small dog is torn screaming from its leash by something unseen. Nothing will ever be the same again.

In the Winter Dark

“When a man dreams things from the past, you’d think he’d be able to rearrange them in new sequences to please himself. But no. In my dreams, it all happens as it happened, and I see it and be it again and again and the confusion never wears off.”

People drift to the valley called the Sink out of loneliness, hardship or an affinity with the land. It is an isolated place, with a swamp and an old white bridge and the forest encroaching from all sides. The solitude is tangible. But when a mysterious creature is suddenly on the loose, killing livestock and preying on everyone’s deepest fears, four inhabitants find themselves unexpectedly in one another’s company – with chilling results.

Thin, but heavy with beauty and fear. A simple tale concerning four people in a remote Australian valley, and the threat of a wild animal on the prowl. Winton’s words are precise and cared for. Each one seems to relish its place in one of his sentences, growing into itself and becoming something altogether different. Marvellous. 

In the Winter Dark

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