The Big Why: A Novel

Michael Winter's The Big Why takes the tradition of the historical novel and twists it into the cool, sinuous, entertaining shape we've all been waiting for. His characters are real and from the past, but the lives they live feel contemporary and emotionally modern. Winter's version of the American artist Rockwell Kent is an over aged, erotically fleckless Huck Finn ready to leave the superficial art world of New York and light out for the territory. Only he heads the wrong way: north and east to Brigus, Newfoundland, before and at the beginning of World War One. A socialist and a philanderer, certain in the greatness of his work, he is drawn north by a fascination for the rocky Atlantic coast and by the example of Brigus's other well–known resident, fabled Arctic explorer Robert Bartlett. But once in Newfoundland, Kent discovers that notoriety is even easier to achieve in a small town than in New York. As events come to a head both internationally and domestically and the war begins, Kent becomes a polarizing figure in this intimate, impoverished community, where everyone knows everyone and any outsider is suspect, possibly even a German spy. Writing in Kent's voice, Michael Winter delivers a passionate, witty, and cerebral exploration of what makes exceptional individuals who they are—and why.

About the Author :
Michael Winter is the author of The Architects Are Here, which was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and This All Happened, winner of the Winterset Award. He is also the recipient of the Writers' Trust Notable Author Award. Patrick deWitt is the critically acclaimed author of the novels Ablutions: Notes for a Novel, The Sisters Brothers, which was short–listed for the Booker Prize and most recently Under Major Domo Minor. Born in British Columbia, he has also lived in California and Washington, and now resides in Portland, Oregon.

Review :
"Michael Winter's The Big Why is a superb novel with grandeur of emotional depth. This is an important book nearly to the point of cruelty, wherein the struggle between an individual and his wife and the larger community remind us again of the immense value of literature." – Jim Harrison "A Bravely written novel that shatters the spine of historical fiction" –Michael Ondaatje "[T]his is a highly entertaining and ultimately profound novel of a quixotic man who reveres nature's awful beauty."– Kirkus (starred review) "[An] exceptionally fine novel … Winter brilliantly exposes his subject's inner life while at the same time revealing Newfoundland and the inhabitants of Brigus to be just as idiosyncratic as the artist who is observing them." –The Boston Globe "Think Henry James filtered through James Ellroy." –The Buffalo News "Michael Winter gives us boat–loads of insight into the contradictory mind and heart of Rockwell Kent… I highly recommend The Big Why for Winter's robust style and unusual way of presenting historical fiction." –Santa Cruz Sentinel "Winter expertly outlines his protagonist's psychological nuances, … [and the] dialogue is uniformly trenchant and humorous. Kent's discussions with his friend and mentor, Gerald, take on the glow of a modern Socratic dialogue or an intellectual improv routine, and Kent's wife, Kathleen, comes vividly to life. Winter gives us a flesh–and–blood Rockwell Kent." –Publisher's Weekly "[W]onderful… engaging, funny, keenly observed, [and] disarmingly wise… read–again beautiful." –The Globe and Mail "[Winter is] a natural writer… he can really grab your attention and make you feel things… Lovely." –National Post "Make no mistake, The Big Why is the work of a powerful talent, one of the best – and most distinctive – younger writers on the Canadian scene. The novel is a page–turner, not because of its plot, but because of its clarity and richness of its voice." –Quill & Quire Winter's spartan novel re–creates an episode in the life of the American artist Rockwell Kent, who, in 1914, left New York City for Brigus, Newfoundland, a bleak hamlet populated by fishermen, seal hunters, and an Arctic explorer. Kent, known in Manhattan as much for his temper and his philandering as for his woodcuts, wanted to lie low, and spent the winter hunkered down in a pup tent on the second floor of a freezing borrowed house. Before long, Kent began to attract suspicion as a possible German spy. (Among other things, he professed a love of German music and wrote "Bomb Shop" in Gothic letters on his studio door.) The next year, he was deported. Winter, who grew up in Newfoundland, creates a frugal voice for Kent's conversations with himself—ornery, reflective, intimate, lewd—and in doing so constructs an indelible portrait of the artist as outsider. ." –The New Yorker