Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Winter Family
    Unavailable
    The Winter Family
    Unavailable
    The Winter Family
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Winter Family

    Written by Clifford Jackman

    Narrated by Patrick Lawlor

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Tracing a group of ruthless outlaws from its genesis during the American Civil War all the way to a final bloody stand in the Oklahoma territories, The Winter Family is a hyperkinetic Western noir that reads like a full-on assault to the senses.

    Spanning the better part of three decades, The Winter Family traverses America's harsh, untamed terrain, both serving and opposing the fierce advance of civilization. Among its twisted specimens, the Winter Family includes the psychopathic killer Quentin Ross, the mean and moronic Empire brothers, the impassive ex-slave Fred Johnson, and the dangerous child prodigy Lukas Shakespeare. But at the malevolent center of this ultra-violent storm is their cold, hardened leader, Augustus Winter-a man with an almost pathological resistance to the rules of society and a preternatural gift for butchery.

    From their service as political thugs in a brutal Chicago election to their work as bounty hunters in the deserts of Arizona, there's a hypnotic logic to Winter's grim borderland morality that plays out, time and again, in ruthless carnage.

    With its haunting, hard-edged style, The Winter Family is a feverishly paced meditation on human nature and the dark contradictions of progress.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateApr 14, 2015
    ISBN9781501251733
    Unavailable
    The Winter Family

    Related to The Winter Family

    Related audiobooks

    Western Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Four Best Audiobooks Of June To Take You Places

      Jun 23, 2020

      Hardboiled mysteries, obscure farming communities, and tales of home and family provide ample entertainment in June’s audiobook roundup.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Picturing Quanah Parker

      Aug 31, 2021

      Picturing Quanah Parker
      3 min read

    • Article

      An Anti-Racist Graphic Novel Reading List

      Jun 16, 2020

      In tribute to the memory of George Floyd, who died at the hands of the Minneapolis police, and in support of the worldwide outcry over his death, we present this list—compiled by the comics editors at Publishers Weekly —of graphic titles about Africa

      5 min read

    • Article

      'The Middleman' Is The Latest Smart, Entertaining Thriller From Olen Steinhauer

      Aug 17, 2018

      Loyal readers will be rewarded with an extended cameo from the star of Steinhauer’s 'Tourist' trilogy.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Bands Of Resistance: A Tribe Defends Its Land From The US Government

      Mar 5, 2020

      Louise Erdrich’s novel, based on history, follows the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewas as they try to save their way of life.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Whiting Foundation Names Creative Nonfiction Grantees

      Nov 10, 2021

      The nine recipients of the Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant, now in its sixth year, will receive $40,000 to support a nonfiction project. The post Whiting Foundation Names Creative Nonfiction Grantees appeared first on The Millions.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Our Populist Prologue

      Dec 19, 2016

      Our Populist Prologue
      4 min read

    • Article

      New Series: Rewriting the West

      Feb 19, 2019

      New Series: Rewriting the West
      3 min read

    • Article

      Dissecting the Democrats

      Nov 1, 2022

      Dissecting the Democrats
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Many Souths

      Aug 13, 2018

      The Many Souths
      5 min read

    • Article

      To Be Trump, Or Not: What Shakespeare Tells Us About The Last Five Years

      Feb 6, 2021

      The time is out of joint. When lost for words, as many have been over the past five years, William Shakespeare is a useful go-to guy. His plays have helped us make sense of plague, political upheaval and a mad monarch, delivering soliloquies by tweet

      4 min read

    • Article

      Harlem Shakedown

      Jul 21, 2023

      Harlem Shakedown
      3 min read

    • Article

      American Hate, a History

      Aug 19, 2017

      American Hate, a History
      9 min read

    • Article

      Rival Bonds

      Dec 24, 2019

      Rival Bonds
      7 min read

    • Article

      Moral Haze

      Jan 5, 2024

      Moral Haze
      3 min read

    • Article

      30 Books in 30 Days: Blackacre and White Rage

      Mar 14, 2017

      In the 30 Books in 30 Days series leading up to the March 16 announcement of the 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award winners, NBCC board members review the 30 finalists. Today, read Tess Taylor on poetry finalist Monica Youn’s Blackacre (Graywolf

      6 min read

    • Article

      America Has Had It Worse

      Nov 2, 2022

      America Has Had It Worse
      6 min read

    • Article

      ‘A Sickening Sight’

      Aug 15, 2023

      ‘A Sickening Sight’
      11 min read

    Reviews for The Winter Family

    3.5/5

    22 ratings5 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      I veered away from my usual genres when I requested this book from Net Galley.

      This is mostly a western with a side of Chicago. In a steady push westward from the burning of Atlanta, this story spans the years from 1864 through 1900. Even the so-called civilized city of Chicago is only 1 step away from life in the brutal wild west. In fact, it might be even more brutal where its politics are concerned.

      The head of the Winter family, which isn't a family by birth, is Augustus Winter. Golden eyed. Inscrutable. Cruel and seemingly without conscience, Augustus leads his band of mad men across the country. This group isn't pleasant, but they're well drawn and make for fascinating reading. With breakneck speed the reader is pulled along with this group, even at times when the reader is reluctant to go.

      The history of our country is brutal and this book does not shy away from the many crimes against humanity that were perpetrated back then. I like to think that America has grown and learned from her history, but sometimes I wonder. I also wonder what guise Augustus Winter would be employing, if he were alive today. Head of ISIS? Leader of the Taliban? He may be a fictional character, but what he stood for is alive and well, even today, and I find that to be sad.

      This book is due to be published in April of 2015. I highly recommend it to those interested in the history of the United States, as well as to fans of horror and westerns.

      *I received a free e-ARC of this book from Net Galley, in exchange for an honest review.*
    • 4/5
      Ever notice in western or gangster movies that one shot from a pistol will remove an insignificant character from a gun fight, but that it takes ten or twelve shots (and maybe two to the head) to finish off one of the major characters? And that the most malefic character of all seems invulnerable to dozens of bullets flying about while those around him are dying like flies? Those same phenomena occur in The Winter Family, a curious western of practically pointless violence, featuring a gang of psychopathic killers having virtually no socially redeeming characteristics, who follow their eponymous leader, Augustus Winter, through perilous scrapes with the confederate army, Apaches on the war path, various law men, the Pinkertons, and the U.S. Cavalry. You might infer from the introductory paragraph that I did not enjoy the book, but that would be wrong. The book is full of action, and the writing is pretty good. You even get to sympathize with, if not like, one or two of the members of the gang as they begin as bummers for General Sherman in his “March to the Sea.” (Bummers was the nickname given to Sherman’s soldiers who were assigned to requisition food from Southern homes on the route of the march, and who became notorious for looting and vandalism.) They then sign on as political enforcers in a Chicago mayoral election, serve as bounty hunters chasing Geronimo, and meet their (not especially tragic) ends trying to help one of their own escape from prison. If Quentin Tarentino had written a western, it would be The Winter Family, which resembles "Reservoir Dogs" in mood and structure. One difference is that Tarentino’s characters never try to justify their senseless sadism. Near the end of the book, Winter muses on his life and sees it as an epic protest against civilization, which he deems “meaner than me….And it’s never going to die.” Maybe Jackman should have stuck with gratuitous mayhem. But in the end, it all comes down to a confrontation between two monstrously competent killers—one outlaw, one Pinkerton—neither particularly virtuous, but both preposterously lethal. I won’t ruin the ending other than to say it is quite artful.Evaluation: If you don’t mind a story that is “brutal” and “extreme” as one reviewer described it, you will find the book keeps you turning the pages.(JAB)
    • 3/5
      I picked up a copy of this book because the words "psychopathic killer" and "hyperkinetic Western noir" caught my attention. This book did not disappoint in the killing aspect. There were a lot of bodies piling up quickly as the story progressed. Yet, even with this factor, I did not find any of the characters that intriguing. They were just alright. Thus the story never really grabbed me and pulled me in and embraced me. After a while I found myself just drifting along skimming the story. Again only because I wanted to see how it would all play out that I did stick with the book. I could though see this book being turned into a movie produced by Quentin Tarantino. This style of book is right up that alley. Warning to readers as there is language used.
    • 4/5
      In the final days of the Civil War Quentin Ross (who grew up wetting his bed and pulling the wings off flies) is sent off by General Sherman on a mission. Ross puts together a small band of people who have a, shall we say, tenuous connection with morality and set off. Some unfortunate decisions are made and soon enough they're wanted for desertion.In the wake of the war, the Klan is formed in the South and several members of the gang hire themselves out to combat them. Some unfortunate decisions are made and soon enough they have to split up to save their lives.Luckily, this was in the early days of the Union. There were huge swathes of uncharted land to get lost in. Violence-loving thugs and those with nothing to lose lead by two sociopaths could easily get lost.Then came the Chicago election of 1872. The Republicans had held the city forever but the Democrats were beginning to organise. All the working-class people and the various ethnicities--the Irish, German, Polish, etc, were coming together in order to face the rich Republicans. President Grant has promised the gang pardons if they help maintain order on election day.Except Augustus Winter (sociopath number two of the group) his brand of violence was beyond the pale. He was not up for pardon and he was not invited to Chicago.So the gang is reunited in Chicago--Winter finds out, of course--and it wouldn't be a Winter Family reunion without copious amounts of violence. Once again with the unfortunate decisions and having to split up.Eventually they wind up coming back together in Oklahoma in 1891 for the big showdown with their arch-nemesis, Matt Shakespeare, brother of one of their former members.The main events of the book take place in Georgia 1864, Chicago 1872, Phoenix 1881 and Oklahoma 1891. Between each section are summations of what was happening in American history and what the characters did while they were apart. This could feel a little disjointed, though the narrative device is understandable because otherwise the book would have been 2,000 pages long.The Winter Family is about race and violence and what really lives in the hearts of men. It's well-written and was difficult to put down and it covers a vast area both geographically and historically--Jackman definitely did his research--I learned a lot about parts of American history that wasn't covered at school. Overall I'd give The Winter Family 4/5.
    • 5/5

      Warning to all readers, this book is about the many forms of violence that one man can inflict upon another. There are no good guys in the novel, only characters that aren't quite as bad as some of the others. All are still killers, thieves and liars at some level. But while parts of this book can only be defined as brutal and violent, it's not gratuitous, like some Clive Barker film. It's instrumental to the plot and exploration of the characters.

      This book traces the history of The Winter Family, more appropriately called the Winter Gang, led by Augustus Winter, a cold-blooded psychopath. Brought together during the Civil War, and the Union Army’s march through Georgia and the Carolinas, their objective was simply to submit the populous to fear and chaos, something they did extremely well. So well, that they continued to practice their craft past the end of the war.

      If my first two short paragraphs of this review don't intrigue you, there is no sense at all for you to attempt to read this book. While unmistakably violent, it is well written, and in my humble opinion, achieves the level of literature. This is the only book that I've given a 5 star rating in the past two years, maybe longer. Using my "Sadness Meter" to determine how badly I felt after reading the last sentence of the last page of the last chapter of this book, I can only say that I was crushed. I wanted this book, this story to go on . . . and on.