Three lives intersect and are forever changed in this novel by award-winning author Isabel Allende. There’s Richard Bowmaster, a lonely 60-something university professor; Lucia Maraz, a visiting Chilean professor that rents a basement apartment from Richard; and Evelyn Ortega, an undocumented housekeeper who works for a wealthy family. Though there’s a raging blizzard outside, Richard needs to get his cat to a vet. He thinks his pet may have been poisoned and needs immediate medical attention. Then, a fateful incident/accident occurs when Richard collides into the back of another car, damaging the trunk. As Richard tries to exchange information with the other driver, she hastily drives away. But a few hours later, the young woman shows up at Richard’s door seeking help. Unable to effectively communicate with the girl, Richard invites Lucia to join them—perhaps if she spoke to her in Spanish. Then, with the help of a shared pot-laced brownie, the three begin to divulge their life stories. The story begins to unfold. We learn that Evelyn leaves the accident scene because she took her employer’s car without permission--but there is also a dead body in the trunk! She is deathly afraid that her employer may be involved in a homicide and that her knowledge of the crime may endanger her life, or have her sent back to Guatemala.
In alternating narratives and time lines, Allende reveals the background of each character—where they’re from; their fears; their desires—what has shaped them as a person. And they all have experienced extreme loss in their lives. An unprecedented blizzard brings them together and changes their lives forever.
The living conditions in Central and South America are described in great detail, and Allende’s descriptions give credence to the multitude of reasons as to why people leave their home country and immigrate to America. The perils that they are fleeing—the gangs, the human trafficking, the poverty, the political unrest—cannot help but conjure up a feeling of empathy and compassion in the reader. Insight into the very difficult decisions that must be made to save their lives and the lives of their loved ones—decisions that oftentimes tear a family apart—are presented.
If you’re a reader that enjoys being immersed in the background of a novel’s characters; or one that likes a story containing intrigue delivered in a backdrop of pertinent history and circumstance; or a reader who subscribes to the belief that love ultimately prevails, you’ll enjoy In the Midst of Winter.
Read-alikes:
It Would be Night in Caracas by Karina Sanz Borgo
Where We Come From by Oscar Casares
The Affairs of the Falcons by Melissa Rivero
Deborah Formosa, Northport-East Northport Public Library
Antonia Vega is a recently retired college professor who is grieving her late husband, Sam, who died nearly a year ago. Antonia and her three sisters emigrated from the Dominican Republic as children and, though they are in their 60s and live in different states, they remain enmeshed in each other’s lives. A crisis occurs when Antonia’s oldest sister, Izzy, goes missing during a manic episode. At the same time, Antonia has found an undocumented, pregnant Mexican teen, Estela, hiding in her garage.
Antonia is viewed by her sisters as the selfish one, because she values self-preservation and sometimes pulls away from the others. She believes that the best thing you can do for loved ones is to take care of yourself so as not to be a burden, and she struggles with her solitary grief, self-doubt, and the decision of who to put first in her life. She often reflects on what Sam, who was a decisive and empathetic local doctor, would have done. In their life together, people often assumed she was the activist because of her ethnicity, when it was the other way around. Antonia wants to embody the things she loved best about her lost loved ones while still being who she is.
The story is filtered through Antonia’s inner voice, filled with the remembered words of writers who have inspired and sustained her. Afterlife is domestic fiction that includes the themes of the immigrant experience, class and race, relationships, and grief. It’s a hopeful novel about living a life of purpose and meaning that would be a good choice for book discussion groups.
Read-alikes:
Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
L.A. Weather by Maria Amparo Escandon
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray
The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal
Norah Gillman, Cold Spring Harbor Library
Twelve-year-old Orly is staying with his aunt in Brownsville, TX for a few weeks in the summer. He’s sure he’s going to be bored, but his aunt has some big secrets. At night, out back by the vacant pink guest house, people are coming and going. Turns out Nina is harboring illegal immigrants until their rides come to take them to their end destination.
The book is written in four parts: the Favor, de camino (on the way), la madrina (godmother), and chivito (goat.) The favor is Nina hiding her cleaning lady’s daughter and grand daughter for a couple of days so they can cross the border, which starts the story rolling. Each part has one or two vignettes giving a closer view and understanding of particular minor characters, some of which you only meet once (El Kobe, who runs the illegals only has two more jobs before he can become a real estate agent.) In de camino, a man pays to bring his son over, but the son ends up going back to Honduras as he suffers severe brain damage from a lack of oxygen in the overcrowded truck that the refugees travel in. And an older woman, Odilia dies trying to walk across the border, never seeing her daughter and grandson in Missouri.
In La Madrina, Orly’s teacher Mr. Dominguez is deported during the summer for having an expired work visa. And in Chivito, we learn of Daniel’s experiences (15-year-old hiding by himself in the pink house) trying to get to his father in Houston.
A story of life on the border between Mexico and Texas, seen from Nina and Orly’s eyes, but seen deeper through the vignettes. The writing is literary, and the story is thoughtful, and suspenseful. I would recommend this title to older teens as well as adults.
Read-alikes:
What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad
American Dirt by Jeanne Cummins
Life of Pi by Yan Martel
The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward
Lori Ludlow, Babylon
Public Library
After her beloved grandmother, Elisa, dies, Marisol decides to fulfill her grandmother's wish to have her ashes spread in her native Cuba. What proceeds is a dual story of her grandmother's childhood in Cuba before she and her family had to flee and Marisol's story of discovering who her grandmother really was, what her roots are, and falling in love with a man she meets while there all while still needing to stay under the radar of the Cuban government.
Next Year in Havana is set both in the past during 1958 when Batista was trying to stay in power and Castro was trying to take over and 60 years later in the present when Cuba is open to tourists and is supposed to be a better place. Staying with her grandmother's childhood best friend allows Marisol to experience Cuba from a native point of view and as her stay there begins to mirror her grandmother's, each falls in love with a revolutionary, Marisol uncovers secrets about her family have been long buried.
This book would appeal to both readers of light historical fiction and romance with its descriptions of 1958 Cuba making you feel like you are living through the revolution as well as the love stories of both Elisa & Pablo in the past and Marisol & Luis in the present. Cuba is depicted both beautifully in vibrant color and music, but it's also shown as the dangerous and poverty stricken country it was and still is for those who want a better life and are trying to survive. And with its political intrigue, family secrets, and danger in both the past and present, it will hold the reader's interest.
Read-alikes:
Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia
The Steady Running of the Hour by Justin Go
Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner
Azurée Agnello, West Babylon Public Library
Chula Santiago lives in Bogotá with her older sister Cassandra and their mother. Her father works for an American oil company and isn’t home often. Chula’s 7-year-old world is fairly narrowly-defined, largely consisting of her gated neighborhood, and her school, until her mother hires Petrona Sánchez to be the next in a long line of maids. The story is largely told from her perspective.
Petrona is a just a teenager herself, but is the main support of her family since the paramilitary burns her family’s farm and kills her father and two of her brothers. What remains of her family lives in one of the slums on the outskirts of the city, a place fraught with danger. Her voice alternates with Chula’s to fill in some of the gaps in the story of what happens when Chula’s world and Petrona’s collide.
The bulk of this story is autobiographical, as we learn in an author’s note. Knowing that much of what Chula experiences in the book was experienced by the author herself during her childhood in the era of Pablo Escobar brings an added sense of horror to scenes of assassination, car bombings, and kidnappings.
Read-alikes:
The Lucky Ones by Julianne Pachico
The Color of our Sky by Amita Trast
Songs for the Flames: Stories by Juan Gabriel Vasquez
Mara Zonderman, Westhampton Free Library
This character driven novel follows the lives of generations of Hispanic women from nineteenth century Cuba to the present-day United States as they struggle to survive in a hostile world. It would appeal to liberal minded American readers who sympathize with women who do not enjoy our freedoms.
Read-alikes:
Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade
Jackie Malone, Retired
This is a coming of age story of Casiopea, a young girl on the cusp of womanhood whose existence consists of daily toil and drudgery. Treated as a second class citizen by her rich and powerful grandfather and Cousin Martine, she dreams of leaving their small village and exploring the world. One day she if left alone in the house while everyone is away and stumbles upon a small black box in her grandfather’s room. Hoping that the box contains gold she opens it and to her astonishment she has unleashed the Mayan God of Death Hun-Kamé, who must gain back his throne from his evil twin brother Vucub-Kamé. So begins a fantastic journey as the two strike out on a harrowing tour of Mexico and the underworld to reclaim his kingdom. At first Casiopea is an unwilling partner, but she soon becomes an energetic participant as she realizes that this is her chance at freedom and possibly love.
Taking place in Mexico during the 1920s Jazz age, the characters are rich and complex. Instances of magic, demons and sorcery are easily woven throughout the storyline engaging readers as extraordinary events unfold. The story concludes when the main characters Casiopea and Martine are transported to the underworld to compete in a harrowing race on the Black road through Xibalba where the future of mankind will be decided once and for all.
This was a fantastic book. I would highly recommend this book to patrons who enjoy historical fantasy. Silvia Moren-Garcia is a gifted storyteller and takes the reader on a thrilling journey using Mayan mythology and folktale.
Read-alikes:
The Bear and the Nightingale by Kathrine Arden
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
Circe by Madeleine Miller
Karen McHugh, Harborfields Public Library
Ana Falcón, her husband Lucho, and their two young children fled the financial and political conflict of Peru for a chance at life in New York City in the early 1990s. Being undocumented severly limits the opportunities for Ana and Lucho to find work and a place to stay. Ana is in debt to a loan shark called Mama, and is stretched thin by her long hours working at the factory. This is added to the stress of living with Lucho’s cousin, who constantly judges and makes it clear that Ana and her family are not welcome to stay in her spare bedroom much longer, and the unwanted advances made by Mama’s slimy husband. While Lucho dreams of returning to Peru, Ana is determined to survive and thrive for the American Dream.
The Affairs of the Falcóns is an upsetting story that needs to be told. With undocumented immigrants being in the news often, reading this novel gives a voice to the ones who are overlooked. Ana is forced to sacrifice so much that the reader cannot help feeling for her. With Ana and her family being undocumented, the constant impending doom of whether immigration will be called is prevalent throughout the novel. Readers will learn about the classism and racism in Peru. Ana is dark-skinned from a rural area of Peru. Her husband Lucho is light-skinned, middle class Peruvian. Lucho’s family thinks less of Ana based on her skin and upbringing. Ana and her family do not speak English, so throughout the novel while she is conversing many lines are in Spanish. This heartbreaking novel will stay with the reader even after they are finished reading.
This novel won the 2019 New American Voices Award and the 2020 International Latino Book Award. Author Melissa Rivero was an undocumented Peruvian child who came to New York City. This novel was not set out to be autobiographical, but as the writing progressed, Rivero did begin telling some of the stories her mother had told her. I recommend this novel to adults looking to read about undocumented immigrants from their perspective and a slow burning novel.
Trigger Warning/Possible Spoiler: There is a storyline that focuses on adultery, and another about abortions, so readers should be prepared.
Read-alikes:
In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende
In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende
Afterlife by Julia Alvarez
Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
Nanci Helmle, The Smithtown Library - Commack Building
