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  • The Winter Guest

  • By: W. C. Ryan
  • Narrated by: Liam Hourican
  • Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (45 ratings)
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The Winter Guest cover art

The Winter Guest

By: W. C. Ryan
Narrated by: Liam Hourican
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Summary

Longlisted for the Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel of the Year

The drive leads past the gate house and through the trees towards the big house, visible through the winter-bared branches. Its windows stare down at Harkin and the sea beyond . . .

January 1921. Though the Great War is over, in Ireland a new, civil war is raging. The once-grand Kilcolgan House, a crumbling bastion shrouded in sea-mist, lies half empty and filled with ghosts - both real and imagined - the Prendevilles, the noble family within, co-existing only as the balance of their secrets is kept.

Then, when an IRA ambush goes terribly wrong, Maud Prendeville, eldest daughter of Lord Kilcolgan, is killed, leaving the family reeling. Yet the IRA column insist they left her alive, that someone else must have been responsible for her terrible fate. Captain Tom Harkin, an IRA intelligence officer and Maud's former fiancé, is sent to investigate, becoming an unwelcome guest in this strange, gloomy household.

Working undercover, Harkin must delve into the house's secrets - and discover where, in this fractured, embattled town, each family member's allegiances truly lie. But Harkin too is haunted by the ghosts of the past and by his terrible experiences on the battlefields. Can he find out the truth about Maud's death before the past - and his strange, unnerving surroundings - overwhelm him?

A haunting, atmospheric mystery set against the raw Irish landscape in a country divided, The Winter Guest is the perfect chilling read.

©2022 W. C. Ryan (P)2022 Bonnier Books UK

What listeners say about The Winter Guest

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Captivating story which sheds light on the brutality of British attempts to resist Irish independence.

Narration improves through the reading after a shaky start. Nice characterisation too. I won’t spoil the ending, but brace yourself for a cliché.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Atmospheric

I enjoyed this very much. The author is excellent at conjuring up spooky scenes. I liked The Ghost House which is also by this author and has a similar feel to it but this edges it for me. The narrator was very good.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent story

Thrilling story brilliantly read by Liam Hourican. completely believable characters. The cruelty and suffering of the troubles Ireland and the first world war. create a dramatic backdrop for a tale of human frailty, pathos and love entirely without sentimentality.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Good

Quite a good book, just a little but heavy going in places still worth a listen

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1 person found this helpful

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Gripping, thrilling couldn't put it down

Loved it. A gripping and a thrilling read. Couldn't put it down. Definitely worth it.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Very poor

One dimensional characters, plot seen coming miles in advance, introduction of ‘modern’ social themes of course. Well performed however

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