A Globe and Mail Best Book of 2014
Longlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize
"[With Into the Blizzard], I believe that Winter has offered the world a piece of his heart. . . . The writing far surpasses that of the standard CanLit non-fiction fare, even that which lands on the RBC Taylor Prize. . . . Into the Blizzard is a love letter to a province's sacrifice by a great Canadian writer."
—The Winnipeg Review
“[Into the Blizzard has] genuine intimacy and immediacy . . . a meditation not just about war and sacrifice but about memory and mythology and a past becoming fragmented by time.”
—Saskatoon StarPhoenix
“[An] often-riveting treatise on war. . . . A truly compelling voice and point of view. . . . Winter’s arguments may be familiar, but they’re made fresh and compelling by a troubling notion he introduces: that time might be diminishing our understanding of the war, not increasing it, leaving it simplistically reified, not furnished with nuance.” —The Globe and Mail
“Toronto-based, Newfoundland-raised author Michael Winter takes us along the winding path the men of Newfoundland Regiment followed during the First World War. . . . Part history, part travelogue and part author's musings on how our modern minds contemplate the past. . . . [A] poignant account.” —Winnipeg Free Press
“Michael Winter . . . has written a love letter to the soldiers who fought for the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during the First World War. . . . His lyrical writing and attention to detail are at their peak . . . [with] powerful imagery and detailed portraits of fragile human beings. As much as Winter may decry the war itself, he is ferociously proud of those who ‘faced the blizzard of machine-gun fire with their chins tucked into an advanced shoulder.’ Winter asks us never to lose sight of their lives, no matter how short or apparently inconsequential.”
—Quill & Quire, featured review
“[A] brilliant first foray into non-fiction.”
—Geoffrey Taylor, Toronto Star