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  • Published: 1 April 2015
  • ISBN: 9780804169967
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $35.00

The Winter People

A Suspense Thriller



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.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The New York Times bestselling author of The Invited will shock you with a simmering psychological thriller about ghostly secrets, dark choices, and the unbreakable bond between mothers and daughters. • "One of the year's most chilling novels." —The Miami Herald

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.
 
Now, in present day, nineteen-year-old Ruthie lives in Sara’s farmhouse with her mother, Alice, and her younger sister. Alice has always insisted that they live off the grid, a decision that has weighty consequences when Ruthie wakes up one morning to find that Alice has vanished. In her search 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 into the historical mystery, she discovers that she’s not the only person looking for someone that they’ve lost. But she may be the only one who can stop history from repeating itself.

  • Published: 1 April 2015
  • ISBN: 9780804169967
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $35.00

About the author

Jennifer McMahon

JENNIFER MCMAHON is the author of six novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Island of Lost Girls and Promise Not to Tell. She graduated from Goddard College and studied poetry in the MFA Writing Program at Vermont College. She currently lives with her partner and daughter in Montpelier, Vermont.

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Praise for The Winter People

  • "A ghost story that is ... all too human.... A hauntingly beautiful read." --Oprah.com
  • "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
  • "Crisp, mysterious and scary.... The Winter People has a consistently eerie atmosphere, and some of its darker supernatural flights are reminiscent of Stephen King." --USA Today
  • "A hypnotic, gripping and deeply moving thriller. With ... beautifully drawn characters and [a] complex, layered, and suspenseful story." --Lisa Unger, author of In the Blood
  • "Everything you could want in a classic ghost story." --Chris Bohjalian, author of The Light in the Ruins