Winter Song

For fans of Elizabeth Strout and Kent Haruf: a novel that follows the intertwined lives of a small-town Midwestern police chief and a young man recently released from prison, each in search of justice

It's 1986, deep winter in Minnesota's hinterland: remote Middle America of demolition derbies and downtown diners, a place so frozen and secluded that the world beyond its borders barely registers.

Here, Gordon Trent, a police chief facing mandatory retirement, squares off with Byron Lugo, just released from Stillwater prison for vehicular homicide. Byron has never admitted guilt and still proclaims his innocence to anyone who will listen: the police chief, townspeople suspicious of the felon now in their midst, the motley group of friends who will stand by him no matter what did or didn't happen that fateful night.

Byron's headlong quest to clear his name and resume the life he lost when he was convicted will force the chief into a painful reassessment of his own judgment, loyalty, and legacy as a police officer.

Winter Song is a moving and pitch-perfect examination of love, community, identity, and the redress of past wrongs in working-class America--and marks the introduction of a brilliant new literary voice.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Ecco Press
Published: 12/01/2026
ISBN: 9780063464032
Pages: 256
Weight: 1.42lbs

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 09/15/2026
Library Journal 10/01/2026 pg. 97
Shelf Awareness 01/01/0001
Publishers Weekly 10/05/2026