Winston Barnes

Winston is the Sheriff of Brunswick County, hoping for re-election but fearing that his younger rival, Bradley Frye, will claim the badge. He is sixty years old and lives in Oak Island, with his wife Marie. Winston is a warm-hearted and good-humored character, but he lives under a cloud. He worries about his ill wife, and the probably imminent loss of their income and health insurance. He worries about his adult daughter Colleen, and feels cut off from her emotionally as well as geographically. More generally, Winston feels saddened by the conflicts and the narrow-mindedness that he witnesses constantly. He is practical and plain-speaking, but prefers to give others the benefit of the doubt where possible. Over the course of the novel, however, Winston is forced to challenge others and to confront things that he would rather ignore, as he strives to do his moral duty. As...