Winter Loon

Author: Susan Bernhard
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Brilliance Audio, 2018
Pages: 325
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Abandoned by his father after his mother drowns in a frozen Minnesota lake, fifteen year old Wes Ballot is stranded with coldhearted grandparents and holed up in his mother's old bedroom, surrounded by her remnants and memories. As the wait for this father stretches unforgivably into months, a local girl, whose own mother died a brutal death, captures his heart and imagination, giving Wes fresh air to breathe in the suffocating small town.

When buried truths come to light in the spring thaw, wounds are exposed and violence erupts, forcing Wes to embark on a search for his missing father, the truth about his mother and a future he must claim for himself - a quest that begins back at that frozen lake.

A powerful, page-turning coming-of-age story, Winter Loon, captures the resilience of a boy determined to become a worthy man by confronting family demons, clawing his way out of the darkness, and forging a life from the shambles of a broken past.

Review: This was one of the books I started when I was taking a break from For Better and Worse. It's dark reading through so I'm not sure how much of a break it really was.

I saw it on a couple different "most anticipated book" lists, but the cover is what really drew me in. It's different, and the loon rising out of the snow was interesting to me. I should also note that I hate birds. They're just weird, and wings. Yuck. I know, I have issues.

What a novel. Oh my goodness. Kudos to the author for taking something so sad and heartbreaking, and turning into a story I couldn't put down. This will be one of my favorite books I read this year.