The Winter People

The Winter People is a 1982 novel by American author and “father of Appalachian literature” John Ehle. The novel is set in the 1930s American South, in a remote region of the Appalachians that extends through North Carolina. It follows a widowed man and his young daughter, Wayland and Paula Jackson, who find shelter in a poor village after traveling nomadically through the mountains. There, they meet a single mother and her baby, Collie and Jonathan Wright; the respective parents find themselves entangled in each other’s lives and ultimately fall in love. The novel has been acclaimed for its vivid characterization of Appalachian community life during the Great Depression; it has been adapted into a screenplay.

The Winter People begins in late autumn one year in the early 1930s. America is experiencing the beginning of the Great Depression; a need for work has driven Wayland Jackson, a clockmaker by trade, into the mountains. Though his final destination is Tennessee, his truck breaks down only partway. He and Paula become desperate for a safe place to rest and restock supplies. After wandering off the main road, they spot Collie Wright’s house in the distance and go to ask for help. When Collie sees them approaching from afar, she perceives them as robbers and prepares to fight. Once she gets a better look, she realizes they are just a lost father and daughter and welcomes them in. Collie lets them sleep in her home.

The narrator gives some background on Collie: a daughter of a wealthy family (relative to the rest of their humble village), she is, nonetheless, mostly alienated from the community, in part because she is a single mother. Jackson is instantly attracted to Collie but chooses not to express it while he adjusts to village life. After he decides that he has just as good of a chance finding work in the village as he would in Tennessee, he proposes to build a clock tower for the public square. At first, the villagers doubt that his proposition is feasible, but after they warm up to his personality, they approve the project.



Collie warms up to Jackson and Paula as well, returning Jackson’s affection. Jackson meets Collie’s brothers, who demonstrate their approval by taking Jackson on a wild bear hunt. When Jackson returns, he and Collie start considering marriage. However, their blossoming relationship is soon threatened by the Campbell family, a wild mountain clan and the historic rivals of the Wrights. Collie used to be in love with Cole Campbell, the family’s youngest son. Cole is also the biological father of Jonathan. When Drury Campbell, the Campbell patriarch, found out that Cole was seeing Collie, he threatened Cole, forcing him to leave her and abandon his son for their own safety.

Unfortunately, when Cole hears that Collie is dating Jackson, he becomes angry and violent. The novel culminates when Cole fights Jackson by an icy pond; the next morning, Cole’s body is discovered in the pond. Though his real cause of death was drowning, the Campbells accuse Jackson of killing him. Desperate to save Jackson and her brothers from being killed at the hands of the Campbell clan, Collie makes the difficult choice to hand over Jonathan to Drury. In the coming months, Collie and Jackson are engaged, while the feud between the families rages on. Jackson tries to broker a peace agreement by meeting with the Campbells, but they threaten him, giving him no choice but to flee. However, the following spring, during Collie and Jackson’s wedding, Drury appears and gives Jonathan back to Collie, signaling the beginning of peace between the families and the absolution of responsibility for Cole’s death.