A review by jess_mango
In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende

4.0

The lives of the 3 characters in this book all intersect during a 2016 snow storm in Brooklyn, NY. Richard is a stressed out academic. He dashes out in his car to run an errand and accidentally rear ends a Lexus driven by a nervous young woman name Evelyn. She doesn't talk to him and doesn't want to exchange info but he gives her his business card anyway. Later she shows up at his residence. Since she seems to speak Spanish he asks his tenant Lucia, who is originally from Chile to come help out. It turns out that Lucia is an undocumented Guatemalan immigrant and the car that she was driving belongs to her employer and was apparently involved in a crime. The resultant conversation ends up bonding these 3 together. During their time together they share details of their past in Chile, Brazil, Guatemala etc.

This was a nice winter-themed read. It was a blend of contemporary fiction with a smidge of romance with a slight twist of a thriller and magical realism.

This book counts towards the Reading Women 2021 Challenge Task #5: Protagonist older than 50