A Thousand Moons

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A Thousand Moons

By: Sebastian Barry

Narrated by: Kyla Garcia

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About this listen

Even when you come out of bloodshed and disaster in the end you have got to learn to live.

From the Costa Book of the Year-winning author of Days Without End.

Winona is a young Lakota orphan adopted by former soldiers Thomas McNulty and John Cole. Living with Thomas and John on the farm they work in 1870s Tennessee, she is educated and loved, forging a life for herself beyond the violence and dispossession of her past. But the fragile harmony of her unlikely family unit, in the aftermath of the Civil War, is soon threatened by a further traumatic event, one which Winona struggles to confront, let alone understand. Told in Sebastian Barry's rare and masterly prose, A Thousand Moons is a powerful, moving study of one woman's journey, of her determination to write her own future and of the enduring human capacity for love.

Sebastian BarryKyla GarciaW. F. Howes LtdThe Days Without End Series

Contemporary Fiction

Fiction

Genre Fiction

Contemporary Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction

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Critic reviews

“Nobody writes like, nobody takes lyrical risks like, nobody pushes the language, and the heart, and the two together, quite like Sebastian Barry does.” (Ali Smith)

Most relevant

The story of Winona; a native american girl surviving in post-civil war America with her two guardians, Thomas McNulty and John Cole. Along with a few other companions, this small band of misfits have created a wholesome, albeit somewhat irregular, family on their isolated patch of land in the Tennessee countryside.
After the strife endured in getting to Tennessee and finally being able to settle down (read the first installment of this saga in Days Without End) they are all ready to settle down and live a normal life. But things take a turn when Winona arrives home one evening bloodied and in pain, with little to no recollection of what had happened to her. From here the tale spirals into unexpected junctures, twisting and turning, in an unpredictable plot.
It is not essential to have read Days Without End before reading this, but it can help colour the characters a little better, though the familiar names only play a small role in A Thousand Moons, with the exception of Winona of course. That being said, I found Days Without End to be an immensely more enjoyable read and would highly recommend it over this one.
That is not to say I did not enjoy A Thousand Moons. Barry’s writing is as poetic and fluid as ever. He completely encapitulates the scene and immersed me into life in 19th century southern United States. He paints the characters so well, even those who only feature briefly, that I was able to picture them with crystal clarity.
Whereas Days Without End is this sprawling, adventurous journey through the American civil war, A Thousand Moons is something wholly different. It’s a slow, teasing novel. I would not go as far as to call it a mystery, though that is a strong element of it.
Although not a physical journey like the books predecessor, it is the personal journey of Winona. As she tries to piece herself back together after her attack, so too, does she gain new strengths, and knowledge of herself and others.
I’ll be honest and say that when I bought this book, it was in the hope of reliving that feeling I got from Days Without End. It was one of the best books I had read last year. However, Barry changed tact with this one and created a new story all of its own, and yet a continuation of the journey in the first book. In doing so, I guess A Thousand Moons has not lived up to expectations but I still found it a worthwhile read and a captivating tale. Without Barry’s exquisite writing however, I am not sure I would have been so pleased with it.