I normally love Isabelle Allende and I wanted to love her new book, "In the Midst of Winter." I was sadly dissapointed by her latest book and think I will stick with her earlier works, such as "Daughter of Fortune" and "Portrait in Sepia", both of which I loved.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! One of the things that makes a book so meaningful for me is when and how the reason for the title is revealed. This book was no exception and I found it absolutely beautiful.

Many thanks to netgalley and Atria Books for this advanced readers copy.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.
This was to me Isabel Allende at close to her finest. The plot was interesting if not totally believable. The murder was a bit of a contrivance but did provide a focal point that was probably necessary. The characters grabbed my heart. The novel deals with immigration, refugees, and brutality in Guatemala and Chile, human trafficking, disabled rights and other current burning issues. It takes place mostly in present time. Definitely a book worth reading.

An interesting read, taking place through a short span of time in the present, yet with much reflection on the past. This story ties together three characters, with their own tragic histories, coming together though an accident. Much reflection on South American challenges, immigration, helping others without judgement, and forgiveness ourselves. Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books, and Isabel Allende for letting me read this reflective novel "In the Midst of Winter".

Thanks to Atria Books for the ARC. However, this was a non-starter, sounded like a truth and reconciliation seminar, an attempt to create a tell-all therapy session by the bonfire - a competition between 3 people of how miserable their past was. The historical accuracy of the lives is the good part, but one can always read a non-fiction to get the gist of that.

Forced together during a winter storm, three people (Richard, Lucia, Evelyn) bond during an unlikely adventure. During their time together, they shared secrets and troubled experiences from their pasts. Why is Evelyn absolutely terrified of her employer, Frank Leroy? Why are Richard and Lucia compelled to help Evelyn even though she's a stranger?

Since the author herself revealed a secret in an interview, I'm going to include it here: "... And, there is also a body in a car."

I very much enjoyed learning about life in Brazil (Richard), Chile (Lucia), and Guatemala (Evelyn), especially the intense look inside the life of an illegal immigrant. Even though I guessed the ending, it did not at all detract from my enjoyment of the story. This was my first time reading anything by this author, and I look forward to more!

Click here to watch the full interview. Ms. Allende is full of personality and humor!

The title was taken from the following quote by Albert Camus: "In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back."

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Locations: Present-day Brooklyn, Guatemala in the recent past, and 1970s Chile and Brazil.

Isabel Allende writes beautiful stories about the beauty of being part of a family. She can craft the plot and even each sentence in such a way that you feel educated in prose when you are fiinished with her stories. Beautiful novel, beautiful family.

Three strangers are thrown together under strange circumstances during a snowstorm in Brooklyn. I really enjoyed a lot of this book, especially the backstories of the characters set in Guatemala, Chile, and Brazil. I like their connections and relationships to each other, and Allende's prose is beautiful. However, the mystery part moving the plot forward felt a bit forced, and the way it was woven into the other stories wasn't paced very well. Overall, still a very enjoyable read.

In the afterward for In the Midst of Winter, Allende states that the idea for the book came from friends at a dinner party rather than within. It shows.

Isabel Allende has been a favorite of mine since my English 12 teacher introduced me to her back in the late 90s. Since my high school days, I've read most of her books and have always loved her beautiful prose. In the Midst of Winter delivers on that, but falls just the slightest bit flat on the plot.

It's a good book, but my expectations for Allende are sky-high so I was a little disappointed with this one.

A tale of a middle-aged academic woman in Brooklyn, Lucia, joining forces with a male colleague (and landlord and department head), Richard, to help a young undocumented woman from Guatemala in serious trouble, Evelyn. The latter works as a nanny to a gangster figure, whose car she has borrowed turns out to have a body in its trunk. Deportation is unacceptable because the gang MS-13 is targeting her and her family. The effort to help pulls Lucia and Richard out of safe routines, revives the spirit from their youth of political action for the persecuted, and tips them toward a quirky romance. The plot in the current time for the story imitates a thriller while deflating into a situational comedy. Meanwhile, the individual backstories of the three characters takes us into diverse harrowing tales of their families’ disruption from political upheaval and personal stories of migration into exile. Lucia had to flee Chile after Allende’s toppling by CIA-backed military coup (the author’s cousin), whereas Richard’s father was a German Jew who escaped the Nazis in World War 2, and he lived through political turmoils in Brazil. Evelyn’s story of survival from events of family destruction, rape, and violence is the worst of all, and her courage and perseverance wins our heart as well as that of Lucia and Richard.

All this history is certainly educational and the characters engage the reader’s concerns, but ultimately the look backwards into their different histories diffused a lot of the drama in the tale. I appreciated better some of Allende’s historical dramas, such as her “Island Beneath the Sea”, which features lives caught up in the slave rebellion that liberated Haiti at the turn of the 18th century.

This book was provided by the publisher for review through the Netgalley program.

The situation of three very different people snowed in together with a major crime to cover up is outlandish enough (and not in a good way), but then Allende decides to use each of their backgrounds as a way to pedantically educate the reader on various historical injustices around the world. In the end, what could have been either charming or fascinating is just dull and condescending.

I discovered Isabel Allende when I was assigned to read House of the Spirits in 8th grade...I had a very progressive english teach, and I have read all of her novels to date. In the Midst of Winter was really three different stories, which I think were told for the contemporary reader, who may not recall, or be aware of the South American political history of the 60's and 70's and of the abuse, poverty and fear that drove Central Americans into the US in the 80's and 90's in droves. I found this book to be especially poignant in this time and place, due to our very unique political issues and struggles. Lucia, a visiting professor from Chile was truly the glue and the level-head (though with slightly macabre humor) that held this group together. Evelyn was the young, undocumented immigrant from Guatamala, with an incredibly tragic past, and Richard, a professor at NYU who leads the life of a careful hermit to escape his ghosts, wraps up the trio. This book tackled themes of aging, racism, immigration, loss, substance abuse, and ultimately, hope. Had this been any other writer, I don't think I would have quite so drawn to the story, but I cannot resist the storytelling of Ms. Allende. She writes beautifully and powerfully about extremely important, yet uncomfortable, topics. As always, I believe Isabel Allende is one of the greatest storytellers of our time.

I received a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review

Allende shines again. Relevant to the world we live in today with a bit of mystery thrown in, this is a lovely read about 3 people who find each other and together undergo trials and adventures that help them connect and leave behind loneliness to embrace the possibilities. The plot is a departure for Isabel Allende, but the warm characterizations and attention to detail make for a magical experience.

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.” Albert Camus

At the heart of this novel is a love story between two wounded and world-weary people in the winter of their lives. A traffic accident is the catalyst that sets this in motion as the two friends/colleagues help a young Guatemalan immigrant in trouble during a snow storm.

The trio's sad and often violent backstories form the bedrock of the book and in a strange sort of juxtaposition, their current story seems almost farcical as these supposedly intelligent people try to figure out a solution to the young woman's problem. I have to admit that that part of the book had me feeling jumpy with irritation and frustration.

Although I greatly admire Ms Allende's storytelling skills and have enjoyed many of her books, this one did not really work for me: their history seemed so depressing, violent and hopeless; the present, by comparison, rather silly--the plot contrived to bring the lovers together.

I wish to thank NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read an arc of the book for my honest opinion.

My Thoughts: I wasn’t immediately captivated by In the Midst of Winter, but Isabel Allende’s wonderful writing compelled me to keep going. She is a storyteller at it’s finest and in this book she paints the three main characters so vividly that I quickly became engrossed in their stories. Richard Bowmaster, 60 and an NYU professor, lives a rigid life of penance for a past he grieves over. He’s a pessimist, a slave to routines, and a constant worrier. Lucia Maraz, 62 and a visiting professor at NYU, just happens to be renting a dismal apartment in Richard’s basement. This Chilean woman is a fireball! She’s an optimistic free-spirit who lives in the moment. The push and pull between these two opposites only gets stronger as they unite to help Evelyn Ortega, a young woman from Guatemala who Richard rear-ends during a huge snow storm. Evelyn later shows up at Richards door, frightened and unable to fully communicate why. He enlists Lucia to help and the three are quickly entangled in an unlikely quest.

As the story progresses Allende takes the reader to each characters’ past and the ghosts that haunt them. Richard spent his 20’s and 30’s in Brazil where life didn’t unfold quite the way he’d planned. Both Evelyn and Lucia fled their home countries, but their journeys were very different. At first I wasn’t won over by the trips to the past, but by the middle of the book it was clear just how important each character’s past was in shaping them. It was these very pasts that drove Evelyn, Lucia and Richard to do the things they did in the midst of a snowy winter.

In the Midst of Winter is definitely one of those books that gets better and better as it moves along. I’m so happy I stayed with the book because by the end I was thoroughly engaged. Allende did a beautiful job of weaving her characters’ lives together. Her latest book was truly a joy to read. Grade: B+

Note: I received copies of this book from the publisher (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Isabel Allende’s newest novel In the Midst of Winter creates some bizarre juxtapositions that in less skilled hands would be appalling, yet from those juxtapositions, she fashions a moving winter romance.

It begins when Richard Bowmaster, a University human rights professor, has a small fender bender during a record-breaking winter storm in New York City. He gives the young driver his information for insurance. Later that night, she shows up at his house, desperate for help, but he can’t understand her so asks his downstairs tenant and university colleague Lucia Maraz to interpret. The young woman is Evelyn Ortega, the car is her employer’s and she is terrified because there is a dead body in the trunk and her employer is a vicious, violent man. So, of course, they must help the woman get rid of the body by driving north to a remote lake where they can sink the car.

Their adventure begins with a shared edible and a night of sharing backstories. Evelyn is from Guatemala, a country that suffered horrific repression and is currently tyrannized by the international criminal gang Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13. Lucia is from Chile whose brother disappeared under Pinochet while she was forced into exile. Richard lived in Brazil and studied the military coup that deposed Goulart and led to years of repression. All three have suffered extreme heartbreak which should be a jarring contrast to the sometimes hilarious madcap road trip complete with steaming piles of moose dung and almost slapstick scenes such as getting stuck in the snow midst pushing the evidence over a cliff. And yet, there is this open-hearted authenticity that makes it work.

Some might look at this story of an isolated, lonely man who comes back to life thanks to the insouciant vivacity of a romance with the vivacious Lucia as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl story, but with a sixty-two-year-old pixie dream girl. However, that is not fair to Lucia who herself goes from despair and alienation to embracing life. This is a story of redemptive love and the pure tub-thumping power of getting knocked down and getting back up again.

This is only the second time I have read an Isabel Allende book in English. Years ago, in a book group, we read her memoir of her daughter, Paula. From The House of Spirits to Daughter of Fortune, I read her in Spanish. For no good reason, I have not read her more recent books. There are so many books I want to read, sometimes I forget to keep track of authors I love.

I enjoyed In the Midst of Winter very much. I know I have frequently complained when authors tell, not show, and Allende sometimes does that, but there is a difference. When Allende tells, she puts the words in the mouths of her characters. They are telling, not the omniscient narrator. That makes all the difference. After all, do we know they are reliable narrators? Do they understand themselves?

I received an e-galley of In the Midst of Winter from the publisher through NetGalley.

In the Midst of Winter at Simon & Schuster | Atria
Isabel Allende author site

Stranded in the basement of her boss's Brooklyn brownstone (from whom she rents a space that has seen better days) during one of the worst winter storms in recent history, university professor Lucia Maraz assumes that she'll only have to endure the inconvenience of this arrangement until the snow clears. However, when Richard Bowmaster, her boss and landlord, accidentally rear-ends the Lexus of a man who may have ties to significant criminal activity, she realizes that she may be in for more than she'd ever imagined.

"Lucia had joked to Richard that he should sell this relic with its rickety stairs and dilapidated doors and grow old living like royalty on a Caribbean island, but Richard was a gloomy man whose natural pessimism was reinforced by the demands and drawbacks of a house with five large empty rooms, three unused bathrooms, a closed-off attic, and a first floor with such high ceilings that you needed an extension ladder to change a lightbulb."

Putting aside the drama of the aforementioned scenario, Allende shines, as usual, thanks to her ability to weave stories into stories. The historical references, as both Lucia and Richard recount the experiences of their younger days to Evelyn Ortega, terrified driver of the Lexus, are spectacular; this novel reminds me why I am drawn to the events that have taken place in Latin America over the past several decades.

"Parks for children had been created on the banks of the Mapocho River, and no one remembered the garbage or the bodies the river had once carried away. In the center, the gray buildings, the traffic of buses and motorbikes, the drab poverty of office workers, the weary passersby, and the boys juggling at the streetlights to beg a few pesos were in stark contrast to the shopping malls of the rich neighborhoods."

Thrown together under difficult circumstances, and with an interesting bit of cargo in the trunk of the Lexus, these three characters, in the midst of their trauma, unravel their own struggles in their efforts to help one another. From grief and disappointment to love and generosity, Allende highlights the power of unexpected relationships and the uncanny ways in which we are all connected.

Having studied Latin American history and the Spanish language in college, I have read several of Allende's novels (even in Spanish; I'm sure I couldn't do that now!); she continues to inspire with her colorful, descriptive writing and sense of adventure.

This book has been incredibly amazing. Once again, Allende has not failed to amuse me.
This piece is filled with history and love. We can read Isabel's own life story inside these pages.

I strongly recommend it for any reader. You will understand a bit more about Latin America and will thank me later for recommending this book.

A trio of unlikely conspirators and a series of unusual events form the basis of this novel. As always, Isabel Allende is a wonderful storyteller. Her rich descriptions and way with words make even the sometimes somewhat outlandish happenings sound realistic. The narrative proceeds with the actions of the three people interspersed with chapters about their individual lives. We learn about each of their pasts and what has brought them to this point.

In Evelyn, Allende makes the plight of the illegal immigrant sympathetic and any opposition seem heartless. But as much as I sympathize with the individuals like Evelyn, I can't agree that we should turn a blind eye to the word illegal.

This is a thoughtful and intricate story that is well told. It's an enjoyable read.

I enjoyed the character development in this book. I haven't studied the political history of parts of Latin America in years, but this book had a good review for me as the characters flashed back. I Have been to both Chile and Guatemala and have studied the political climate and aftermath. These are topics not always written about but important to history. I like how the snow storm brought the characters together as they began to trust each other. Isabel Allende is a wonderful story teller and makes the reader feel like they are there with the characters. I love the international elements she incorporates in her books. I also love the title and the meaning of it! I recommend this book to people that enjoy strong characters and historical elements. Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.