Road Out of Winter by Alison Stine

 

Reviewed by Kristin

After a long cold winter, what if spring never came? As March, April, May, and even June rolled around, what if the sky stayed overcast and the sun shone dimly? What if this continued and became known as the year with no summer, but people held out hope for the next year? With such a poor growing season, shortages would become obvious, food would become scarce, and people would start to go hungry. And what would happen when the next year nothing changed?

Wylodine (Wil) is living alone on her family farm in southern Ohio. Her mother and stepfather Lobo decided to head to California to see if any better conditions exist. Lobo was always known in their small town for his ability to grow weed. Wil has the green thumb required too, even though she would rather that Lobo left them long ago. Like it or not, Wil is known as the girl who can make things grow.

Wil’s best friend is Lisbeth, and she is all caught up in The Church. Lisbeth’s parents have brought her up to believe, and now that the summers are not returning, the religious fervor of The Church has created a cult-like following. The Church decides they must leave Ohio to find a new promised land, one with sun and hope and strict obedience to the leaders.

Wil tries to keep going—she really does. But as the days and nights get colder and colder, she decides to attempt the trip to California to find her mother. She has an address, and a tiny house that she can haul with her truck. Wil sets out, picking up strays along the way. They hit many obstacles, some figurative and some literal, but Wil and her little entourage keep moving.

The tone of the novel could be called bleak, but there is something about Wil which keeps hope alive. She is brutally honest, refusing to loot convenience stores or to steal fuel from abandoned gas stations. She and her little group take what they need, but she always leaves cash in exchange. Wil hopes that she will see her mother again, and maintains a protective attitude about those who need protecting. She knows that they will keep moving until they reach California, or until they find a good place to be, a right time to give up the increasingly difficult travel across a landscape frozen into place. Wil may have at least temporarily lost contact with her mother, but she builds a family with her traveling companions.

Alison Stine books are hard to recommend enthusiastically because they are full of characters going through extreme hardships and they don’t always (or ever?) end up with a bright, happy ending. I read and reviewed Trashlands a couple of months ago. While these are both hard books to talk up, I find Stine’s take on the world to be both contemplative and well worth reading.