Road Out of Winter
An Apocalyptic Thriller
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3.9 • 20 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
2021 winner of the Philip K. Dick Award
A 2020 The Rumpus Book Club Selection
“Blends a rural thriller and speculative realism into what could be called dystopian noir…. Profoundly moving.”—Library Journal, starred review
In an endless winter, she carries seeds of hope
Wylodine comes from a world of paranoia and poverty—her family grows marijuana illegally, and life has always been a battle. Now she’s been left behind to tend the crop alone. Then spring doesn’t return for the second year in a row, bringing unprecedented, extreme winter.
With grow lights stashed in her truck and a pouch of precious seeds, she begins a journey, determined to start over away from Appalachian Ohio. But the icy roads and strangers hidden in the hills are treacherous. After a harrowing encounter with a violent cult, Wil and her small group of exiles become a target for the cult’s volatile leader. Because she has the most valuable skill in the climate chaos: she can make things grow.
Urgent and poignant, Road Out of Winter is a glimpse of an all-too-possible near future, with a chosen family forged in the face of dystopian collapse. Both gripping and lyrical, Stine’s vision is of a changing world where an unexpected hero searches for where hope might take root.
“Richly imagined, deeply moving and unthinkably offers hope in a world that uncannily resembles ours…. Gloriously well-written.” —Ms. Magazine
And don't miss the next literary speculative novel from Alison Stine, TRASHLANDS, coming October 2021.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Society collapses after two consecutive years of winter in this haunting dystopia from Stine (The Protectors). When Wil's family leaves Appalachian Ohio for California, 20-something Wil is left behind to tend the family business of illegally growing and selling marijuana. But as the town's residents realize there will be no spring this year once again, Wil receives a postcard from her mother with her new address. She sets out to meet her mother, accompanied by two young men she rescues, one who was lost in the woods and one who was caught in a mob of angry townsfolk. On their cross-country journey in a truck they encounter helpful environmentalists; a dangerous, totalitarian community that's sprung up in a skate park; and a suicide cult. Wil's farming skills and collection of vegetable seeds and grow lights may be her only chance of survival, but they also make her a target for those willing to kill for her resources. Stine's prose is crisp and atmospheric ("The earth was so frozen it was like chipping at bone.... Snow quickly filled the holes I had made, as if even this small blackness was not allowed to stay in the new white world"), and though bleakness abounds, the ending strikes a lovely balance of hope and pathos. Fans of climate fiction and found family stories will be entranced.
Customer Reviews
Impactful
A Road Out of Winter is a story based in a dystopian world where uncontrolled human impact on the planet resulted in a never-ending winter. Without the seasons, the earth becomes a cold desolate place where it seems like nothing can survive.
What I Liked
Two main themes thread their way through the story. One is the importance of family and connections with other people that makes surviving a group effort rather than an individual challenge. The other is the preciousness of life, particularly plants, and how the whole eco-system fails if plants cannot be grown. These are essential lessons that many people forget about because no one forces us to think about them. We take them for granted just the same as we do French Fries and Taco Bell, but, unlike junk food, we cannot survive without them.
I loved the main character, Wil. Quietly determined, deeply scarred, and inherently heroic, she leads a small group of people on a journey to find warmer weather. What they found was much more profound, as some chose to walk away while others stay together. Through it all, Wil remains true and focused, refusing to leave anyone behind even if it put her own life in peril.
Given the pandemic we currently find ourselves in, a story about a world-wide weather catastrophe is profoundly and darkly impactful. We now realize what such an event will bring out in people and that, even though there are some light spots, there is a lot of darkness in people that turns into something dangerous in intense situations. When we need to band together, it is not unusual for people to become selfish and opportunistic - a very troubling thought and possible reality.
To Read or Not to Read
If you love stories with impactful messages, this is a story you will not want to miss.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review,