‘One of the 100 Best Thrillers of the Century’ ― New York Times
‘A marvellous writer’ ― Roddy Doyle
‘Brings all the satisfactions of crime thriller and mystery’ ― Guardian
Daniel Woodrell’s modern classic is the unforgettable tale of courage, loyalty and survival that inspired the Oscar-nominated, award-winning film starring Jennifer Lawrence.
Sixteen-year-old Ree Dolly is raising her two younger brothers and caring for her ailing mother in the harsh poverty of Missouri’s Ozarks. When she learns that her father has skipped bail after charges linked to a meth lab, she faces a devastating prospect: if he doesn’t appear in court, the family will lose their home.
Determined to save the only life they know, Ree sets out to find him. But her search draws her deep into a tight-knit world of clan loyalties, long-held feuds and dangerous secrets, where outsiders are unwelcome and asking questions can be a fatal mistake.
‘A marvellous writer’ ― Roddy Doyle
‘Brings all the satisfactions of crime thriller and mystery’ ― Guardian
Daniel Woodrell’s modern classic is the unforgettable tale of courage, loyalty and survival that inspired the Oscar-nominated, award-winning film starring Jennifer Lawrence.
Sixteen-year-old Ree Dolly is raising her two younger brothers and caring for her ailing mother in the harsh poverty of Missouri’s Ozarks. When she learns that her father has skipped bail after charges linked to a meth lab, she faces a devastating prospect: if he doesn’t appear in court, the family will lose their home.
Determined to save the only life they know, Ree sets out to find him. But her search draws her deep into a tight-knit world of clan loyalties, long-held feuds and dangerous secrets, where outsiders are unwelcome and asking questions can be a fatal mistake.
Reviews
It brings us all the satisfactions of crime thriller and mystery...The beauty lies in the loveable and wholly believable character of Ree
A suspicion grows that you are reading the sort of book D.B.C Pierre's Vernon God Little might have been, had it been five times as keenly observed and deeply felt
'Woodrell is a marvellous writer'
'Woodrell throws down sentences that will leave you amazed.'
'Reading this will make you feel that you walk on very, very thin ice, and know that chaos is very, very close. Such knowledge has many consequences, one of them is exhilaration.'
'Brutal, violent and completely gripping'
The lineage from Faulkner to Woodrell runs as deep and true as an Ozark stream in this book ... his most profound and haunting yet.
It brings us all the satisfactions of crime thriller and mystery...The beauty lies in the loveable and wholly believable character of Ree
A suspicion grows that you are reading the sort of book D.B.C Pierre's Vernon God Little might have been, had it been five times as keenly observed and deeply felt
Woodrell is a marvellous writer
Woodrell throws down sentences that will leave you amazed.
Reading this will make you feel that you walk on very, very thin ice, and know that chaos is very, very close. Such knowledge has many consequences, one of them is exhilaration.
Brutal, violent and completely gripping
He belongs in the forefront of American fiction
Sometimes brutal, sometimes mordantly funny, sometimes surprisingly sweet . . . I just didn't want WINTER'S BONE to end
Woodrell's Old Testament prose and blunt vision have a chilly timelessness that suggests this novel will speak to readers as long as there are readers.
Daniel Woodrell has produced another stunner, a bleak, beautifully told story about the inescapable bonds of land and blood--fiction at its finest.
Heroines this inspiring don't come along often. When they do, they deserve our attention.
The plot of WINTER'S BONE is uncomplicated, yet it packs a kind of biblical, Old West, Cormac McCarthy wallop--hard and deep.
A courageous, audacious, resourceful 16-year-old girl destined to enter the pantheon of literature's heroines.
A piercing, intense tale told from way inside, WINTER'S BONE is stark evidence that Daniel Woodrell is a writer of exceptional originality and importance.
In "Winter's Bone," he has hit upon the character of a lifetime. Young Ree Dolly allows Woodrell to glide this novel seamlessly from violence to innocence. [...] "Winter's Bone" is structured like a Philip Marlowe story [...] Woodrell's Ozarks are rendered in a kind of ramshackle, beautific realism. [...] The whole Ozark milieu is rendered so completely and expertly that Woodrell should consider changing the settings of his future novels, just as Cormac McCarthy gave up Tennessee for Mexico. [...] His Old Testament prose and blunt vision have a chilly timelessness that suggests this novel will speak to readers as long as there are readers, and as long as violence is practiced more often than hope or language.
One of the 100 Best Thrillers of the Century (#25)
In prose both taut and lyrical, WINTER'S BONE vividly evokes the spirit of one little woman warrior.