Set in 1890s Montana, The Heart in Winter follows Irishman Tom Rourke and mail-order bride Polly Gillespie—doomed lovers on the run from a bounty hunter and his henchmen hired by Polly’s jilted husband-to-be. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by alternative Westerns lately and this book is a worthy addition. Barry’s playful humor and prose flip the genre on its head. An adventurous and cinematic love story that is equal parts charming, funny, and brutal.