One day in Brooklyn during a terrible snow storm, Richard has a car accident. He hit Evelyn’s car. He gives her his personal information. Later Evelyn shows up at his house for help. Richard gets his tenant Lucia to come to help him understand what Evelyn needs. Over the course of the next few days, these three bond in ways they never expected. They find out that Evelyn is in serious trouble and they try to figure out what to do next. Along the way, they share details from their past. The unbelievably tragic events they have endured are unraveled and weaved throughout the story.

I am a big fan of magical realism, and I was happy to see an Isabel Allende book available. This was an enjoyable book, though I found the modern timeline more interesting than the (sometimes overly long) past stories.

Allende's newest tale is heartfelt and raw. While it takes a few chapters for readers to get fully invested in the characters, setting up the back story and juxtaposing the past with the present tells a rounded a full tale of the lives of these three individuals. The interactions between the characters is well thought out and deep, Allende uses every word to add to their lives. Readers come to love them and experience the heartbreak and joy both of their past, present, and future.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Net Galley.

Lucia is a visiting professor from Chile living in the basement apartment of one of her colleagues in Brooklyn. When the colleague, Richard, hits a car driven by an undocumented immigrant, Evelyn, he turns to Lucia for help in navigating the situation. The book covers topical themes of immigration and how we treat refugees in our country. Allende does not disappoint.

I have loved all of Isabel Allende's past novels. I keep waiting for her to disappoint me and once again she has not! She has managed to bring together three very different people into a very believable story. Allende tackled many current issues such as human trafficking, immigration to name just two of many. And yet, the story line flowed to a conclusion that tied up all the loose ends. I highly recommend this book, without a doubt a great read.

In The Midst of Winter is quintessential Isabel Allende-- moving, soft, well-developed, and memorable. This book stayed with me long after I put it down. I highly recommend this.

I enjoyed reading In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende. I find this author to be very engaging as a master storyteller. Ms. Allende's writing causes you to care about her characters. A journey of later in life love emerges as the story progresses. The journey of the characters in this novel also allows the reader to experience the plight of immigrants and refugees from Central and South America. I learned so much about Guatemala along with Chile and Brazil. Knowledge is power and this novel entertains and well as informs. Well done Ms. Allende.

Isabel Allende is a national treasure. This is a wonderful book. Anything she writes is fabulous. The characters in her latest novel are so real; I got lost in it! Thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for the perusal!

Isabel Allende never disappoints and this book continues her adept storytelling. A minor car accident serves as the impetus for a beautifully woven love story. Richard Bowmaster is a scholar who speaks on behalf of human rights and whose life becomes intertwined with Evelyn Ortega, a native of Guatemala who teaches at Bowmaster's college. This book serves as a reflection of the plight of today's undocumented immigrants and the ordeal they must go through in an attempt to gain a better life.
Allende has written a book whose plot and details will resonate long after you have finished reading it.

What an absolute masterpiece! This book stays with you. Three very different lives intersect on a snowy night when Richard and Evelyn get into a traffic accident. Richard procures the help of Lucia, a colleague and neighbor, in communicating with Evelyn. Each of these characters has a fascinating backstory, which you learn about as perspectives change between chapters. You also get the privilege of seeing the three of them come together to solve a problem and rebuild their lives. Along the way, you learn about Chile and Guatemala in small, relatable bits, so if you don't know much about the history of these countries, this book will get you interested. You will fall in love with each of these characters, and the only problem will be that you will find it hard to let them go.

When I was interviewing Isabel Allende over the phone about her new novel In the Midst of Winter, I made a fool of myself.

It happened mid-conversation which was somehow even more embarrassing. This is how I screwed up.

There is a scene in the novel where one of the main characters, Lucía Maraz, recalls the violent military coup of 1973 that resulted in the overthrow of then Chilean president Salvador Allende. I asked Isabel Allende if it was still difficult for her to relive that moment of her past, and I referred specifically to the death of her father.

“He wasn’t my father, he was my uncle,” she clarified politely, and I have never been more eager for the ground to swallow me whole.

You may not believe I did my research, but the truth is that I did know full well that Salvador Allende was her uncle (her father’s first cousin, actually) because it was a question in my final exam of Latin American literature in college about The House of Spirits. I started answering the question well enough, but at one point I mistyped and wrote that Salvador Allende was the author’s father, and it just stuck.

My professor marked the whole question wrong, bringing my whole grade down to a C.

This rather nefarious episode of my academic life must have stuck in my head in the worst possible way, only to blurt it out in conversation with Isabel Allende herself more than twenty years later. But my admiration for her grew twofold when she continued the interview without missing a beat, talking about a moment which she still vividly remembers.

“It’s a story I know by heart. It would be impossible to write about that time in Chile and not mention it, because it was such a decisive moment in the history of my country and my life,” Allende said. “Without the military coup, I would have been a journalist in Chile, as I was, and a very happy one. But the political circumstances forced me to leave Chile and find refuge in Venezuela where I eventually became a writer. My whole life, and that of my children changed because we had to leave Chile. I was just one of the millions of people affected by the coup.”

Being born in Venezuela, I was particularly interested that In the Midst of Winter Allende makes a point of reference to it being a haven of refuge for many Chileans who were escaping the military dictatorship after the fall of Salvador Allende’s government. Now it seems to have become the reverse, with many Venezuelans fleeing their country’s economic and political downfall.

“I love Venezuela, I have family and friends there. We now see thousands of Venezuelans arriving in Chile, trying to get away from the chaos happening in their own country, which makes me very sad,” Allende said. “But Chile is a refuge for many other countries like Haiti, Peru, Colombia. Migrants are moving from one place to another in Latin America, much more than they used to. “

Titled after a quote by the French philosopher and author Albert Camus, In the Midst of Winter details the lives of three very different people intersecting because of a random event. Lucía is an academic lecturer from Chile in her sixties, living in Brooklyn as a guest professor and feeling every bit her age. Richard Bowmaster, Lucía’s colleague, is a lonely man who survives in the company of his three cats and eludes human companionship as much as possible, including Lucia’s for whom he feels a begrudging attraction and undeniable admiration.

One night during a violent snow storm, Richard is involved in a car accident with Evelyn Ortega, a young undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who turns up at Richard’s doorstep later that night pleading for help. Realizing that Evelyn doesn’t speak much English and is visibly frightened, he calls on Lucía for help.

As Evelyn’s tragic story unfolds, being forced to leave her native Guatemala after enduring a violent assault by local gangs, Richard and Lucía find themselves confiding their own stories and past tragedies to Evelyn (and to each other) so they can put her at ease.

Out of all the characters, Allende felt a deep connection with Lucía. “I felt very close to her, because her story and mine are similar. I understand how she feels about turning sixty, and feeling older, looking at herself in the mirror and seeing a person that is aging,” Allende said. “Evelyn I felt I knew well because through my foundation (the Isabel Allende Foundation, which promotes fundamental rights for women and children), I’ve seen cases like hers and met people in her situation.

With Richard, it was so difficult to make him likeable, because I wanted him to be impossible, to be the kind of guy that is single, has cats, a hypochondriac who protects his secluded life. And yet, I had to make him somehow charming. That wasn’t easy because he really was a total jerk!”

Allende tackles the difficult and very much debated topic of immigration and the refugee crisis, and I asked her if the current political climate had inspired her to write her new novel. “No,” she stated firmly. “I started the book on Jan. 8 of last year (2016) when Donald Trump was not even a candidate, and he wasn’t president yet by the time I had finished it.” Allende said “But the issues that Trump picked up on, were already there, he didn’t invent anything. Anti-immigrant sentiment, xenophobia, misogyny, all that was already there. Working with immigrants and refugees I see cases like those of Evelyn Ortega constantly.”

She continued to say that the writing process is more or less the same for all her novels, regardless of the topic. “I research as much as I need to. In this case, I didn’t need to research that much because the story is a very contemporary one,” Allende explained. “I always try to imagine the lives of each one of the characters and the story that links them.”

Allende is also methodical about the time of day when she sits down to write and the structure within the narrative. “I write in the morning because I’m usually better working during the day, not so much at night,” Allende said. “I try to write as fluid and loosely as possible because I want things to move so I don’t force (the writing) too much. When I tell a story, I try to be as free as if I were dancing.”

Allende’s earlier works were known for the narrative device of magical realism, so often associated with Latin American literature through the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges, Romulo Gallegos and Isabel Allende herself. Works like The House of Spirits and The Stories of Eva Luna kept her, as least in my mind, as a staple of what magical realism signifies. When I asked her if she was stepping away from it, her reply was swift and to the point.

“Absolutely not. But you know, magical realism is not like salt and pepper that you can sprinkle on everything. It fits in some stories and it just doesn’t fit others. For example, in this novel, there is only one scene which could be perhaps defined as magical realism, but even that has another explanation.”

I wondered if there was a message Isabel Allende wanted to leave readers with In the Midst of Winter, something to think about after they’ve finished it.

“I want readers to mostly think about the stories because that’s what brings people together. I think that if you talk immigration without thinking of the stories, it’s just numbers. “

She continued to say that many people tend to conveniently forget that their own grandparents were immigrants, who left everything behind looking for a better life. “Immigration has become a political issue, a national issue that’s totally abstract. But when you hear one story, you see one face and that face has a name, then everything changes,” Allende said firmly. “There is a moment in the book when an immigration officer says to Evelyn Ortega: ‘You’ll have to tell this story to the judge, and judges have heard this same story many times. Some of them believe it, and some don’t.’

“But why have judges heard this story many times?” Allende continues, “Because it happens time and time again. There is a reason why these people leave their countries. There were no Syrian refugees in Europe before the horror in Syria started, forcing millions of people out. Why do we get people from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras? Because that is the Triangle of the North, the most violent place on Earth that is not at war.

These countries have been taken over by narcos, gangs, police and military corruption, by inefficient governments that have a history of genocide against poor and indigenous citizens.”

Isabel Allende ends our conversation with a final thought about the novel. “If any of my readers, the next time they think or read about immigration, remember that these are real people and that each of them have a story, then maybe we can start having a real conversation about it.”

In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende explores three individuals whose lives inexplicably intersect via a freak winter storm, a sick cat, and a run to the market for diapers. There's 60 year old Richard Bowmaster who is living in a fog after tragically losing his Brazilian wife and child. His coworker and tenant, 62 year old Lucia Maraz, has survived her own life of upheavals in Chili, escaping the danger by moving to Canada and emigrating to the United States. Finally there's 23 year old Evelyn Ortega, an undocumented refugee from Guatemala assisting a disabled boy whose father is involved in questionable business practices.

When Evelyn "borrows" her boss's Lexus for a quick run to the supermarket, she's caught in the "wrong place at the wrong time" when Richard's car skids into the rear of the vehicle. Panicking, she ends up at his home, terrified of the consequences when her temporarily out of town employer returns home. Somehow Louisa and Evelyn end up with Richard in his apartment huddling together through the night while a freak blizzard rages across Brooklyn and into the surrounding regions. It's not just the minor fender bender, but what's inside the trunk that has them all in a sweat despite the cold.

Thus begins a bizarre road trip to an isolated location far away from the boundaries of the "incident" to get rid of the evidence. Close quarters and fear create the perfect environment for confidences as the three tell their personal stories and develop an unbreakable bond through this illicit deed. Back in Brooklyn is the "rest of the story" providing closure long after the threesome have resolved their accidental dilemma.

I'd like to highlight Lucia's tale involving the Military coup d'etat in Chili in 1973 where President Salvador Allende was overthrown by armed forces and the national police. It is not a coincidence that the author's last name is also Allende since this leader was Isabel's "uncle" which endangered not only her life, but those of loved ones. I'm sure this particular tale invoked some strong emotions from Isabel's past when she was actively involved in helping those on the "wanted" list find safe passage, which is inherently reflected in the attitudes and behaviors of the characters in this novel.

There was a lot to take in (almost too much to absorb) as the atrocities in Lucia's and Evelyn's childhoods are revealed. It is almost impossible to imagine living a life of terror, waiting for someone you love to be killed, or worse, not knowing whether or not the missing are still alive - not to mention your own dangers in an unstable country. Intertwined is the scenarios of those loved ones who influenced the decisions of the trio.

Without maintaining a specific focus on the immigration issue which is currently stalled in Congress, the reader is still left to ponder the attitude of American society towards undocumented workers who have fled their beloved homeland in order to stay safe, as well as the belligerence towards their children who were brought up in this country and know no other home.

While these timely issues make this a must read book (please note the President mentioned the violent M-13 in his 2018 State of the Union Address), I did have difficulty with the choppiness of the story as the plot flipped back and forth between the three main characters revealing their backgrounds piecemeal. I actually cheated and skipped ahead to read each biography in full (one at a time) which gave me a better understanding of their motivations. Oops, sorry Isabel. Allende had the difficult task of condensing their lives into a relatively brief narrative when each of the characters could have easily filled the pages of their own book (including some of the minor players). The conclusion neatly wraps up the details with a bit of poetic justice and a touch of romance thrown into the mix.

Four stars and a thank you to Netgalley for proving an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wonderful look at immigration and what people go through, both before and after attempting to get North. Interesting group of characters and as always, Allende gives readers not only something to think about, but to have serious discussions.

I enjoyed this book - with so many details about the past, it is one to read through slowly and savor.

Thank you for the chance to review this book, however, unfortunately, I was unable to read and review this title before it was archived.

Although I love Isabelle Allende, this book was hard to get into. I liked each character individually, but their situation seemed implausible to me. I feel this book would be better written has it not been told in 3 different voices, but perhaps with an omniscient POV.

A big Isabelle Allende fan, I couldn't wait to read this book. However, it is not in the same league as her other
books. The premise of the story is promising, but the following pages do not unfold as expected.
Although beautifully written, the story leaves us lacking.

Events in Isabel Allende’s latest novel, IN THE MIDST OF WINTER, span more than sixty years and two continents. The story begins with a massive snowstorm in Brooklyn in 2016, with Lucia Maraz, an academic from Chile, trying to stay warm in the apartment she rents in the brownstone belonging to Richard Bowmaster, an NYU professor in his 60's. Due to an emergency, he has been out driving and skidded into the car of Evelyn Ortega, a young, undocumented immigrant for Guatemala. Having taken the car without permission, she is petrified of her violent boss and turns to Lucia and Richard for help. As there adventures continue, these three learn to build trust and share the stories of their lives, including the losses of family members due to military takeovers in Chile, drug and alcohol abuse in Brazil, and gang activity in Central America. Throughout, Allende evokes empathy for the plight of immigrants and refugees, from Richard's father who fled the Nazis to those who (roughly a decade ago) protected Evelyn on her own journey North. At times, the stories were violent, heartbreaking, and difficult to read, but seemed especially poignant given recent debates about DACA and news of the sanctuary offered by more churches opening their doors to undocumented immigrants facing deportation. Allende is an award winning author who is not afraid to write of political injustice and masterfully incorporates historical events into this moving (and yet sometimes humorous) novel. IN THE MIDST OF WINTER received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly.

Link in post: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/more-churches-are-opening-their-doors-to-undocumented-immigrants-facing-deportation

Really enjoyed this book. Would definitely see this being a great book club pick as there is much to discuss.

I received this from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

Evelyn, Richard and Lucia are brought together during a snow storm in this story that moves from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil.

The past sequences were rather long, with deep measures of political history. I better liked the current time-line of Richard and Lucia. This book just didn't capture my imagination and interests.

2☆