7. People and animals share their lives. Compare the companionship between Richard and the four cats and between Lucia and Marcelo. How do their interactions reflect each of their personalities?
8. Richard and his wife, Anita, go through the devastating experience of losing their baby son. How do their reactions to this tragedy differ? And how do these differences ultimately determine the fate of Bibi and of their marriage?
9. Anita’s family has always been very tight-knit, giving her a sense of well-being and support. How does this compare with Richard’s upbringing? He comes to resent Anita’s family after the tragedy. Why do you think this is so? Is he fair in resenting their efforts?
10. When Richard arrives in New York with Anita, and his friend Horacio sees the state she is in, he says to Richard, “Make sure you don’t let her down, brother.” In what ways does Richard end up letting Anita down? Why do you think he does? How does the fate of Anita and his children continue to shape his life long after their deaths?
11. There is often a conflict between “the letter of the law,” which refers to a literal interpretation of the words, and “the spirit of the law,” which refers to the intention behind the law. At the end of the book, Lucia tells Richard, “The law is cruel and justice is blind. Kathryn Brown helped us tilt the balance slightly in favor of natural justice, because we were protecting Evelyn, and now we have to do the same for Cheryl.” Do you agree with Lucia’s decision? Why or why not? If you were in a situation similar to Lucia’s, how do you think you would handle it?
12. Each of the main characters is a stranger to the people around her/him. In what way is Evelyn a stranger to the family she works for? Lucia is of course a foreigner in New York, but even as a colleague of Richard’s at NYU she remains a stranger to him, just as he is to her. Why do you think that is? In what ways do they misinterpret each other? To what extent do Evelyn, Lucia, and Richard each become less of a stranger by the end of the book?
13. Our protagonists each deal with trauma in their own way: Lucia with an open heart and taking risks; Evelyn by hiding, being silent, and trying to make herself invisible; and Richard by closing down and protecting himself. They have all experienced events that could have utterly destroyed them. Identify what these are for each character and compare how they each handled those events. In what ways did they succeeded in overcoming the trauma of their past? In what ways do they still carry it with them?
14. Lucia and Richard find love at a mature age. At first, they believed they were too old to find love, before realizing that they came together at exactly the right time. Is there an age limit for certain life experiences like falling in love? How has the process and concept of aging changed today when compared to the previous generation? Consider how the timeline has shifted for younger generations with regards to traditional milestones of earning a higher degree, building a career, getting married, owning a home, and starting a family, etc.
15. “In the midst of winter, I finally found there was within me an invincible summer.” Why do you think Isabel Allende chose to include this quote from Albert Camus in the book’s epigraph, title, and final scene? Most of the story literally takes place during the winter. But on the symbolic level, Evelyn, Lucia, and Richard are all experiencing a winter of the spirit. What does that consist of, for each of them? And what do you think the “invincible summer” is that each one finds within?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Research the gang that destroyed Evelyn’s family, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), which began in California, and has been recently in the news. The following sources provide some useful information on the gang’s origins and practices.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-13
bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39645640
nytimes.com/2017/07/12/nyregion/ms-13-murders-long-island.html
Have your group discuss the origins of this gang, and what steps can be taken to lessen its power.
2. Many films have explored the challenges faced by immigrants. Among them are The Immigrant, The Visitor, Sin Nombre, and El Norte. Stream one of these films with your reading group, and discuss how the issues faced by Evelyn compare with the issues faced by the characters in the films.
3. Have your group read two of Isabel Allende’s other novels, The House of the Spirits and The Japanese Lover. Both of these novels deal with subjects that are related to In the Midst of Winter. What similar themes do you notice in each of these novels that correspond to the themes of In the Midst of Winter? How does reading The House of the Spirits enhance your understanding of people like Lucia and what their families experienced during and after the military coup in Chile? In what ways does the experience of Ichimei Fukada—the Japanese gardener’s son in The Japanese Lover, who is forced with his family into an internment camp in a desert area of Utah during World War II—compare to the experience of modern-day immigrants and refugees like Evelyn, and the discrimination that they face?
4. In 2014, Isabel Allende gave a TED talk in which she discussed living passionately no matter what your age: ted.com/talks/isabel_allende_tells_tales_of_passion. Watch this TED talk with your group, and discuss which aspects of Allende’s perspective on aging are reflected in the vibrant character of Lucia.
5. To learn more about Isabel Allende, read reviews of In the Midst of Winter, learn about her other titles, and find her on tour, become a fan at her Simon & Schuster author page simonandschuster.com/authors/Isabel-Allende/1723104, and visit her website isabelallende.com.
About the Author
ISABEL ALLENDE—novelist, feminist, and philanthropist—is one of the most widely read authors in the world. More than 67 million copies of her books have been sold. Born in Peru and raised in Chile, Allende won worldwide acclaim when The House of the Spirits, her bestselling first novel, which began as a letter to her dying grandfather, was published in 1982. Since then, she has written more than twenty bestselling and critically acclaimed books, including Of Love and Shadows, Eva Luna, Paula, Daughter of Fortune, Island Beneath the Sea, and The Japanese Lover. She has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Harvard University, was inducted into the California Hall of Fame, and received the PEN Center Lifetime Achievement Award and the Anisfield-Wolf Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014, President Barack Obama awarded Allende the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. She lives in California. Her website is IsabelAllende.com.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by Isabel Allende
English language translation © 2017 by Isabel Allende
Originally published in Spain in 2017 as Más allá del invierno
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Interior design by Amy Trombat
Jacket design by Evan Gaffney
Jacket image © Andre Maier/Getty Images (brownstones); © Amrit Silja Karau/Alamy Stock Photo (winter garden); © Westend61 GMBH/Alamy Stock Photo (tree)
Author photograph © Lori Barra
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Allende, Isabel, author. | Caistor, Nick, translator. | Hopkinson, Amanda, [date] translator.
Title: In the midst of winter : a novel / Isabel Allende ; translated from the Spanish by Nick Caistor and Amanda Hopkinson.
Other titles: Más allá del invierno. English
Description: First Atria Books hardcover edition. | New York : Atria Books, 2017. | “Originally published in Spain in 2017 as Más allá del invierno”—Verso title page.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017027807 (print) | LCCN 2017030969 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501178153 (eBook) | ISBN 9781501178139 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: College teachers—Fiction. | Women college teachers—Fiction. | Women illegal aliens—Fiction. | Human rights—Fiction. | New York (N.Y.)—Fiction. | Guatemala—Fiction. | Chile—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Literary. | FICTION / Historical. | FICTION / General. | GSAFD: Love stories.
Classification: LCC PQ8098.1.L54 (ebook) | LCC PQ8098.1.L54 M3713 2017 (print) | DDC 863/.64—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017027807
ISBN 978-1-5011-7813-9
ISBN 978-1-5011-7815-3 (ebook)
Isabel Allende, In the Midst of Winter
(Series: # )
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