Chilean author Isabel Allende is best known for her works of magical realism, much like Gabriel García Márquez, who helped the genre enter the cultural consciousness. Allende's In the Midst of Winter was published in 2017 and follows a Brooklyn, New York-based college professor named Richard Bowmaster. One day, Bowmaster hits an illegal immigrant named Evelyn Ortega, who very quickly becomes an important part of his life after the accident. Ortega has nowhere to turn; her immigration status has prevented her from going to the police with important news that she found the body of a dead person in her boss' car. With the help of Bowmaster's tenant, Evelyn navigates the trauma of the person's death, leaving Chile, and living in a world dominated and run by men. At the same time, Bowmaster finally wrestles with his own feelings of inadequacy about a failed marriage and his own loneliness.
As with many of Allende's other works, In the Midst of Winter became an overnight New York Times bestseller. Despite the novel's popular and financial success, critics were mixed in their reviews of the novel. In fact, Elizabeth Winkler of The New York Times gave the novel a fairly negative review, criticizing the "thin" characters and saying that the "story is too shallow and the writing too syrupy to make for a thoughtful treatment of the subject." Kirkus Reviews' review, however, was more positive. "This winter’s tale has something to melt each frozen heart," they wrote.
