I've been reading him off and on since he published The Aerodynamics of Pork in the mid 1980s. His basically gentle novels usually deal with modern society. While there's some time shifting, A Place Called Winter marks a real departure with its setting in the early 20th century.
The book is based loosely on Great grandfather Harry Cane, who abandoned his wife, daughter and all the trappings of a comfortable upper middle class life in London for hard living on the Canadian prairies.
Harry never explained why he became the black sheep of the family, so, inspired by his granny's vague reminiscences, Gale - a gay writer - gave him an illicit homosexual affair (then illegal) as the trigger for his behaviour.
The book is set in Harry's residence in a mental asylum and then in a mountain retreat, although episodic flashbacks tell his story in England as well as his arrival in winter in Canada where he battles the harsh climate to hack out a farmstead on land provided by the Government to boost the new railway.
As the opening scene with two male attendants dragging Harry off to a cold bath suggests, Harry's journey of discovery is far from easy.
Without spoiling the plot, I can say he battles penury, storms, a few sinister characters and the misery of World War 1.
During that time, Harry only grows in your imagination.
A Place Called Winter is typical of Gale's previous works, marked by interesting, complex characters - women as well as men - and by the use of good dialogue.
In less talented hands, the book could have become a depressing Gothic mess, but Gale manages to explore painful issues about sexuality, war and mental illness without ramming his views down your throat. The book is a surprisingly uplifting and addictive story of self discovery.
Gavin McLean is a Wellington historian.
