The New York Times bestselling author Jennifer McMahon (Promise Not to Tell) returns with a simmering literary thriller THE WINTER PEOPLE about ghostly secrets, dark choices, and the unbreakable bond between mothers and daughters…sometimes too unbreakable. Although it gets more frightening by the page, this thriller is hard to put down. Embrace the colder winter months and dive into this chilling ghost story set Vermont.
West Hall, Vermont, has always been a town of strange disappearances and old legends. The most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who, in 1908, was found dead in the field behind her house just months after the tragic death of her daughter, Gertie. Now, in present day, nineteen-year-old Ruthie lives in Sara’s farmhouse with her mother, Alice, and her younger sister, Fawn. Alice has always insisted that they live off the grid, a decision that suddenly proves perilous when Ruthie wakes up one morning to find that Alice has vanished without a trace. Searching for clues, she is startled to find a copy of Sara Harrison Shea’s diary hidden beneath the floorboards of her mother’s bedroom. As Ruthie gets sucked deeper into the mystery of Sara’s fate, she discovers that she’s not the only person who’s desperately looking for someone that they’ve lost. But she may be the only one who can stop history from repeating itself.
** Jennifer McMahon will sign The Winter People ARCs at ALA Midwinter on Saturday 1/25 from 2-3pm in the Random House Booth #831.
Authors Praise The Winter People:
“Jennifer McMahon is a writer of exceptional talent, and The Winter People is a hypnotic, gripping and deeply moving thriller. With her beautifully drawn characters and complex, layered, and suspenseful story, McMahon has woven a dream from which I didn’t want to wake-and couldn’t have even if I wanted to.” –Lisa Unger, author of In the Blood
“I don’t believe in ghosts. At least that’s what I kept telling myself as I read The Winter People. I also don’t need to sleep with the lights on. I told myself that, too. But I was whistling past a graveyard-or, in this case-past a Vermont landscape that is authentic and recognizable and still altogether chilling. The Winter People is terrifying-everything you could want in a classic ghost story.“—Chris Bohjalian, author of The Light in the Ruins
“In an edge-of-your-seat scary ghost story, Jennifer McMahon’s The Winter People yanks you from one page to the next by expertly weaving the past and present. I will never look at the woods behind my home in the same way again!“—Heather Gudenkauf, author of The Weight of Silence
“A deliciously terrifying glimpse into a ghostly world that will haunt you long after you’ve finished the last page. Jennifer McMahon knows how to conjure your darkest fears and nightmares, while entertaining you with a clever, twisty plot that winds around and around, pulling you deep into the forbidden, secret world of The Winter People.“—Chevy Stevens, author of Always Watching
“This is not a book that will sit unread on anyone’s bedside table for very long. Open the first few pages and you are swept into a swift, dark current of unfolding events that will hold you enthralled. Much more than a spooky mystery of murder and mayhem, The Winter People blends the anguish of loss and the yearning for connection into one great story, well told.”—Kate Alcott, author of The Dressmaker
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