Her Every Fear
Peter Swanson, 2017
HarperCollins
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062427021
Summary
An electrifying and downright Hitchcockian psychological thriller—as tantalizing as the cinema classics Rear Window and Wait Until Dark—involving a young woman caught in a vise of voyeurism, betrayal, manipulation, and murder.
The danger isn’t all in your head . . .
Growing up, Kate Priddy was always a bit neurotic, experiencing momentary bouts of anxiety that exploded into full blown panic attacks after an ex-boyfriend kidnapped her and nearly ended her life.
When Corbin Dell, a distant cousin in Boston, suggests the two temporarily swap apartments, Kate, an art student in London, agrees, hoping that time away in a new place will help her overcome the recent wreckage of her life.
But soon after her arrival at Corbin’s grand apartment on Beacon Hill, Kate makes a shocking discovery: his next-door neighbor, a young woman named Audrey Marshall, has been murdered. When the police question her about Corbin, a shaken Kate has few answers, and many questions of her own—curiosity that intensifies when she meets Alan Cherney, a handsome, quiet tenant who lives across the courtyard, in the apartment facing Audrey’s.
Alan saw Corbin surreptitiously come and go from Audrey’s place, yet he’s denied knowing her. Then, Kate runs into a tearful man claiming to be the dead woman’s old boyfriend, who insists Corbin did the deed the night that he left for London.
When she reaches out to her cousin, he proclaims his innocence and calms her nerves ... until she comes across disturbing objects hidden in the apartment—and accidentally learns that Corbin is not where he says he is. Could Corbin be a killer? And what about Alan?
Kate finds herself drawn to this appealing man who seems so sincere, yet she isn’t sure. Jetlagged and emotionally unstable, her imagination full of dark images caused by the terror of her past, Kate can barely trust herself ... So how could she take the chance on a stranger she’s just met?
Yet the danger Kate imagines isn’t nearly as twisted and deadly as what’s about to happen. When her every fear becomes very real.
And much, much closer than she thinks.
Told from multiple points of view, Her Every Fear is a scintillating, edgy novel rich with Peter Swanson’s chilling insight into the darkest corners of the human psyche and virtuosic skill for plotting that has propelled him to the highest ranks of suspense, in the tradition of such greats as Gillian Flynn, Paula Hawkins, Patricia Highsmith, and James M. Cain. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 11, 1964
• Where—Carlisle, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—B.A., Trinity College; M.A., University of Massachusetts-Amherst; M.F.A., Emerson College
• Currently—lives in Somerville, Massachusetts
Peter Swanson is the author of several novels: The Girl with a Clock for a Heart (2014) The Kind Worth Killing (2015), Her Every Fear (2016), and Before She Knew Him (2019). Eight Perfect Murders (2020) is his most recent.
Swanson's poems, stories and reviews have appeared in such journals as The Atlantic, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Epoch, Measure, Notre Dame Review, Soundings East, and The Vocabula Review. He has won awards in poetry from The Lyric and Yankee Magazine, and is currently completing a sonnet sequence on all 53 of Alfred Hitchcock’s films.
Swanson has degrees in creative writing, education, and literature from Trinity College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Emerson College. He lives with his wife and cat in Somerville, Massachusetts. (From the publisher and the author's website.)
Book Reviews
Most readers won’t anticipate the Hitchcockian twists and turns in this standout suspense tale.
Washington Post
Chapter by chapter, the text peels back layers to reveal a pathological relationship between Kate’s cousin and a long-ago acquaintance that’s reminiscent of a folie à deux out of Patricia Highsmith... By then, readers, privy to much Kate doesn’t know, may be experiencing their own anxiety.
Wall Street Journal
Peter Swanson tells the engaging story of a woman battling severe anxiety who decides to radically change her life - and the horrifying results that follow - in Her Every Fear… An effective and compulsive thriller.
St. Louis Post Dispatch
[U]nconvincing psychological thriller.... The characters, especially the female ones, rarely make rational decisions, and Kate herself doesn’t consistently react in the face of grave danger in the manner of someone suffering from crippling anxiety. Swanson fans will hope for a return to form next time.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Psychological thriller devotees should block time to read [this] ... in one sitting, preferably in the daylight. Readers can expect the hairs on their necks to stand straight up as they are consumed with a full-blown case of heebie-jeebies. —Mary Todd Chesnut, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Library Journal
(Starred review.) The skillfully conjured Boston winter creates the perfect atmosphere for breeding paranoia, which kicks into high gear with the introduction of Cherney’s Rear Window-like flashbacks. Swanson … introduces a delicious monster-under-the-bed creepiness to the expected top-notch characterization and steadily mounting anxiety.
Booklist
The book flounders a bit when Swanson enters Highsmith territory, attempting to inhabit the minds of sociopathic killers, but he does complicate things interestingly and engineers a tense and intricate finale. A solid and quick-paced thriller—but one that seems to feature a pop-up psychopath behind every door and under every bed.
Kirkus Reviews
[It] has "movie adaptation" written all over it. It has an alluring location, a fragile yet resilient protagonist and a thoroughly Hitchcockian storyline, replete with the requisite false starts and plot twists… High tension, lightning-fast pacing and psychological drama in spades.
BookPage
Discussion Questions
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use our generic mystery questions.)
GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers
1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they flat, one-dimensional heroes and villains?
2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you begin to piece together what happened?
3. Good crime writers embed hidden clues in plain sight, slipping them in casually, almost in passing. Did you pick them out, or were you...clueless? Once you've finished the book, go back to locate the clues hidden in plain sight. How skillful was the author in burying them?
4. Good crime writers also tease us with red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray? Does your author try to throw you off track? If so, were you tripped up?
5. Talk about the twists & turns—those surprising plot developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray.
- Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense?
- Are they plausible or implausible?
- Do they feel forced and gratuitous—inserted merely to extend the story?
6. Does the author ratchet up the suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? A what point does the suspense start to build? Where does it climax...then perhaps start rising again?
7. A good ending is essential in any mystery or crime thriller: it should ease up on tension, answer questions, and tidy up loose ends. Does the ending accomplish those goals?
- Is the conclusion probable or believable?
- Is it organic, growing out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 3)?
- Or does the ending come out of the blue, feeling forced or tacked-on?
- Perhaps it's too predictable.
- Can you envision a different or better ending?
8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?
9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?
(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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Fierce Kingdom
Gin Phillips, 2017
Penguin Publishing
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780735224278
Summary
An electrifying novel about the primal and unyielding bond between a mother and her son, and the lengths she’ll go to protect him.
The zoo is nearly empty as Joan and her four-year-old son soak up the last few moments of playtime. They are happy, and the day has been close to perfect.
But what Joan sees as she hustles her son toward the exit gate minutes before closing time sends her sprinting back into the zoo, her child in her arms. And for the next three hours—the entire scope of the novel—she keeps on running.
Joan’s intimate knowledge of her son and of the zoo itself — the hidden pathways and under-renovation exhibits, the best spots on the carousel and overstocked snack machines — is all that keeps them a step ahead of danger.
A masterful thrill ride and an exploration of motherhood itself — from its tender moments of grace to its savage power — Fierce Kingdom asks where the boundary is between our animal instinct to survive and our human duty to protect one another. For whom should a mother risk her life? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1974-75
• Raised—Montgomery, Alabama, USA
• Education—B.A., Birmingham-Southern College
• Currently—lives in Birmingham, Alabama
Gin Phillips is an American author of adult novels and children's books. She was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and attended Birmingham-Southern College, graduating with a degree in political journalism. Following college, she spent more than 10 years as a journalist, living in Ireland, New York City, and Washington, D.C., before moving back to Alabama. She now lives in Birmingham with her husband, children, and dog.
Philips wrote her first two novels for the adult market. The Well and the Mine, published in 2009, was awarded the Barnes & Noble Discover Award, along with $10,000. Her second, Come in and Cover Me, was released in 2012.
For her next two books, Phillips turned to children's literature with The Hidden Summer in 2013 and A Little Bit of Spectacular in 2015. Her fifth book, Fierce Kingdom, this one for adults, came out in 2017. (Adapted from Wikipedia and from the author's website. Retrieved 10/28/2017.)
Book Reviews
Every choice the protagonist makes in Fierce Kingdom, the expertly made new thriller by Gin Phillips, is another precarious step up a gnarled decision tree. If she reaches for the wrong branch—snap! Darkness. Part of the book's great allure is that the reader feels as if this character, Joan, is working out each of her dilemmas in real time.… Our full visibility into Joan's moment-to-moment reasoning is also what makes this novel so clever and irresistible. Fierce Kingdom is a portrait of a mind at work under macabre duress. We feel almost as cornered and overwhelmed as Joan does.… Any more tension would be unbearable.… Seldom are the banal logistics of child rearing — Does Joan risk a trip to the vending machines to avert a hunger meltdown? How does she keep Lincoln occupied? — as riveting as they are in this book.
Jennifer Senior - New York Times
Of all the places where you really do not want to come across a couple of nut cases with guns, a zoo full of wild animals would be high on the list. Gin Phillips taps into that primal fear with Fierce Kingdom, a heart-thumping thriller about a mother who finds herself and her 4-year-old son trapped when two marksmen start hunting down visitors.… [Joan] gives new meaning to the term "tiger mom." Compressed into a little over three hours, the story flies by like a gazelle being chased by a lion and is easily consumed in a single sitting.
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times Book Review
A page-turning, adrenaline-soaked read.
Guardian (UK)
The premise of this novel will send chills down the spine of any parent — and keep them turning pages into the wee hours.
Newsday
Fierce Kingdom is gripping and almost impossible to put down.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Because we make fun of helicopter parents for the lengths they go to to keep perfectly safe children even safer, we can can forget that, for children, safety is a kind of love — and that makes Fierce Kingdom a terrifying book, but more importantly, a beautiful one.
NPR
By introducing the threat of violence, the book amplifies everyday domestic concerns, producing a kind of crystallization of the experience of parenthood.
New Yorker
A shot of pure adrenaline. But it’s not just the action that will keep you turning pages: Fierce Kingdom is a moving story too.
Entertainment Weekly
Gin Phillips’s heartpounding novel will have readers questioning what lengths a mother would go to in order to save her child …or someone else’s.
Real Simple
A powerhouse of a read that balances empathy and fear as it poses complex questions about human nature.
Washington Independent Review of Books
Fierce Kingdom is a novel that crackles with tension and danger.… Do yourself a favor and devour this book before the inevitable movie premiere.
New York Journal of Books
(Starred review.) [H]arrowing.… A searing exploration of motherhood at its most basic, this all-too-plausible horror story may haunt even readers with steely nerves and strong stomachs.
Publishers Weekly
Phillips skillfully captures the terror of the situation…. This literary thriller encompasses three terrifying hours in the lives of some zoo visitors and the gunmen hunting them, movingly conveying much of the action through the viewpoint of a mother and her young son. —Melissa DeWild, BookOps, New York P.L.
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Phillips manages to combine beautiful imagery with heart-pounding, nerve-fraying intensity. . . . Fans of literary page-turners, like Sunil Yapa’s Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, won’t want to miss this.
Booklist
(Starred review.) Phillips’ characters are exquisitely rendered, her prose is artful and evocative.… Poignant and profound, this adrenaline-fueled thriller will shatter readers like a bullet through bone.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for Fierce Kingdom … and then take off on your own:
1. Consider the fact that Fierce Kingdom is set in a zoo — an environment we normally think of as safe and where animals, not humans, are in captivity. How has the author turned that conception on its head? Why might Gin Phillips have used a zoo? What darker currents might she be exploring?
2. Follow-up to Question 1: Consider, too, that motherhood is a form of instinctive animal behavior.
3. Describe Joan as a mother. Is she normally overly protective of Lincoln (to wit: watching her sister-in-law strap him into the car)? Or are her concerns typical of most mothers?
4. Once under fire at the zoo, how does Joan go about protecting Lincoln? What kind of traits emerge that enable her to keep him safe? How does her knowledge of her son help her make the choices she does? How might you fare under such circumstances?
5. Talk about Lincoln. How does he respond to the danger he and his mother are both exposed to? Did you find some of his chatter and cleverness grating … or endearing?
6. What do you make of Joan's observation about Lincoln — that "He is a whole separate being, as real as she is"? If you are a parent of a young child (or if you once were), does this statement resonate with you? Have you ever had that epiphany?
7. What do you make of the fact that we are privy to the inner thoughts of one of the shooters — an unusual perspective, to say the least? Why might Phillips have decided to give us access to Robbie's point of view? What do we learn about him?
8. The action takes place in real time: we read as events transpire from moment to moment. What effect does the tick-tock time-keeping have on your reading?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
How Much of These Hills Is Gold
C. Pam Zhanag, 2020
Pengin Publishing
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780525537205
Summary
An electric debut novel set against the twilight of the American gold rush, two siblings are on the run in an unforgiving landscape—trying not just to survive but to find a home.
Ba dies in the night; Ma is already gone. Newly orphaned children of immigrants, Lucy and Sam are suddenly alone in a land that refutes their existence.
Fleeing the threats of their western mining town, they set off to bury their father in the only way that will set them free from their past. Along the way, they encounter giant buffalo bones, tiger paw prints, and the specters of a ravaged landscape as well as family secrets, sibling rivalry, and glimpses of a different kind of future.
Both epic and intimate, blending Chinese symbolism and re-imagined history with fiercely original language and storytelling, How Much of These Hills Is Gold is a haunting adventure story, an unforgettable sibling story, and the announcement of a stunning new voice in literature.
On a broad level, it explores race in an expanding country and the question of where immigrants are allowed to belong. But page by page, it's about the memories that bind and divide families, and the yearning for home. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Born in Beijing but mostly an "artifact" of the United States, C Pam Zhang has lived in thirteen cities across four countries and is still looking for home. She's been awarded support from Tin House, Bread Loaf, Aspen Words and elsewhere, and currently lives in San Francisco. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Sure to be the boldest debut of the year…. C Pam Zhang grapples with the legend of the wild west and mines brilliant new gems from a well-worn setting…. The story is heavy with layers of trauma…. On the one hand, the novel is in close touch with the entire tradition of wild west mythology and film…. At the same time, the story feels completely original… [as] the classic western is given a rich new shading as race, gender, sexual identity, poverty and pubescence come into play. The novel is thick with detail, metaphor and oblique allusion ... at its core is a chilling sense of the utter loneliness and isolation felt by Lucy and Sam.
Guardian (UK)
[This] thoroughly engrossing saga… starts out slow.… [But] in section two… the tale [is transformed] into a fully immersive epic drama packed with narrative riches and exquisitely crafted prose…. How Much of These Hills Is Gold succeeds as a riveting account of one family’s struggle to make ends meet in the American West…. But the novel is also a much-needed homage to the untold history of American immigrants… giving a voice to the "honest folks" of color who were enslaved, robbed, raped or murdered in the process…. Zhang captures not only the mesmeric beauty and storied history of America’s sacred landscape, but also the harsh sacrifices countless people were forced to make in hopes of laying claim to its bounty.
San Francisco Chronicle
(Starred review) [E]xtraordinary debut, a beautifully rendered family saga, centers on a pair of siblings…. Gorgeously written and fearlessly imagined, Zhang’s awe-inspiring novel introduces two indelible characters whose odyssey is as good as the gold they seek.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review) This moving tale of family, gold, and freedom rings with a truth that defies rosy preconceptions. The description of human and environmental degradation is balanced by shining characters who persevere greatly. Highly recommended. —Henry Bankhead, San Rafael P.L., CA
Library Journal
(Starred review) The journey of these two children… force us to confront just how "white" the history we've been taught is…. [Zhang has] creat[ed] a new and spellbinding mythology of her own. Aesthetically arresting and a vital contribution to America's conversation about itself..
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. In How Much of These Hills is Gold, Pam Zhang crafts a reimagined American West, filled with magic and myth, at the height of the Gold Rush. The epigraph reads: "This land is not your land" but within Chapter One, Lucy recalls Ba’s words: "You remember you belong to this place as much as anybody." (24). What do you think the novel is saying about birthrights? Are they inherited or claimed?
2. Much is made about the burial process—for loved ones; for things and animals; for past selves. Is there a right way to honor the dead as seen in the novel? What does Sam’s decision to take the two silver dollars from Ba’s burial tell us about their relationship?
3. Ba and Sam are prone to fanciful storytelling. Consider the many stories told within the novel, as well as the tellers. What are the differences between the stories that the characters tell one another and the stories they tell themselves? To what extent is myth involved in the creation of each character’s origin story?
4. Bodies, like the land, are often claimed. At the end of Part Two, Sam is "born" as Ma "dies." Dissect the ways in which, Lucy, Sam, and Ma adhere to or subvert gender norms throughout the novel.
5. Compare and contrast the various teachers in the novel, their specific motivations, and their successes. Billy to Ba; Teacher Leigh to Lucy; Ba to Ma. etc.,—what kind of education does each receive? What are the power dynamics in evidence between teacher and student?
6. Ba helps Sam become the boy he always wanted to be, meanwhile Lucy and Ma are thick as thieves. Discuss the differing family dynamics. Why does Ba choose to tell Sam Ma’s secret, but not Lucy? Why doesn’t Ma seek out Lucy after she’s disappeared if they’re so close? In what ways do Sam and Lucy exemplify characteristics of each of their parents?
7. In Part Three, Ba speaks through the voice of the wind and hopes that Lucy hears it in the night. How does the revelation of Ba’s true origin affect your reading of him throughout the book? Did learning his side of the story change your perspective about his behavior and motivations?
8. The novel places a large significance on gold and Ba’s belief that prospecting is a talent. The other mountain folk, however, think striking gold has all to do with chance. In what ways does the novel interrogate these ideas? What other factors are at play in one’s ability to strike gold?
9. The environment is as much a character as Lucy and Sam’s family and is often anthropomorphized. Analyze the relationship between the characters and the natural world, as well as animals, both real and imagined. Why do you think the author chose to name the chapters after recurring natural elements?
10. When we encounter Lucy and Sam in Part Four, Lucy has chosen to settle in the town of Sweetwater, and Sam chooses life on the trail. Consider the dichotomy and tension between civilization and wilderness in the novel. Are there elements of each in the other?
11. Throughout the novel, Lucy often asks "What makes a home a home?" Does she ever find a sufficient answer to that question? Consider Ma’s homeland across the sea, the family’s home in town, Lucy’s place in Sweetwater. Are there degrees to what can make a "home"?
12. What do you think Lucy asks the gold man for at the conclusion of the novel? Why do you think the author chose not to name it?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
I Liked My Life
Abby Fabiaschi, 2017
St. Martin's Press
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250084873
Summary
Maddy is a devoted stay-at-home wife and mother, host of excellent parties, giver of thoughtful gifts, and bestower of a searingly perceptive piece of advice or two. She is the cornerstone of her family, a true matriarch...
...until she commits suicide, leaving her husband Brady and teenage daughter Eve heartbroken and reeling, wondering what happened.
How could the exuberant, exacting woman they loved disappear so abruptly, seemingly without reason, from their lives? How they can possibly continue without her?
As they sift through details of her last days, trying to understand the woman they thought they knew, Brady and Eve are forced to come to terms with unsettling truths.
Maddy, however, isn’t ready to leave her family forever. Watching from beyond, she tries to find the perfect replacement for herself. Along comes Rory: pretty, caring, and spontaneous, with just the right bit of edge...but who also harbors a tragedy of her own.
Will the mystery of Maddy ever come to rest? And can her family make peace with their history and begin to heal? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1979-80
• Where—State of Connecticut, USA
• Education—B.A., Babson College
• Currently—lives in West Hartford, Connecticut, and Park City, Utah.
After graduating from The Taft School in 1998 and Babson College in 2002, Abby climbed the corporate ladder in high technology. When her children turned three and four in what felt like one season, she resigned to pursue writing. In March, Abby signed a two-book, hardcover deal with St. Martin’s Press. Her debut upmarket women’s fiction novel, I Liked My Life, will be released January 31, 2017.
Abby is a human rights advocate interested in economic solutions to social/cultural problems. She is Director of the Board for Made By Survivors, an international nonprofit organization with a unique prosperity model that uplifts victims from sex trafficking and extreme abuse. You can learn more about her practice of systematic giving here.
She and her family divide their time between West Hartford, Connecticut and Park City, Utah. When not writing or watching the comedy show that is her children, she enjoys reading across genres, skiing, hiking, and yoga. Oh, and travel. Who doesn’t love vacation? (From the author's webpage.)
Visit the author's webpage.
Follow Abby on Facebook.
Book Reviews
The opening line for Abby Fabiaschi’s novel is a winner — ”I found the perfect wife for my husband” — and the two paragraphs that follow reveal a good deal about Maddy as she spells out the qualities of the woman who should replace her. That beginning sets the tone for I Like My Life. It’s smart, very smart: the prose, humor, and insights are sharply honed yet blunted with just the right amount of compassion. READ MORE …
Molly Lundquist - LitLovers
I Liked My Life is… impossible-to-put-down.
Associated Press
First-time novelist Abby Fabiaschi unwinds a tale wholly compelling, altogether believable and, at times, so heartbreaking it’s hard to believe she isn’t already an established author. She demonstrates excellent timing and perfect control over the complicated narrative and never allows it to drift toward maudlin. She leaves readers a trail not of breadcrumbs, but gold coins that are irresistible. And the ending, while perhaps a bit neat and tidy, is entirely unexpected. All in all, I Liked My Life is an…impressive debut.
Kim Curtis - AP / Washington Post
An absolutely stunning book! I Liked My Life is a layered tale with meaningful things to say about life, death, grief and moving forward after tragedy…remarkable.
Romance Times Reviews
A heartbreaking and ultimately heartwarming read about life, death, and family (A Best Winter 2017 Book).
PopSugar
As Fabiaschi employs ever more convoluted narrative machinations to hide a big twist at the end, the story loses the emotional impact it needs to maintain a connection with the reader. As such, it’s hard to grieve along with Eve and Brady, and the disparate plot elements don’t fully come together.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming, this hard-to-put-down, engrossing debut will have readers wondering until the very end. It examines life and death, despair and faith, parenthood and marriage, the choices we make, and, most of all, love—making it a perfect choice for book clubs. —Catherine Coyne, Mansfield P.L., MA
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Readers will be enveloped by the emotional impact of Fabiaschi’s writing. Warm and hopeful, this marvelous debut stands next to novels from Catherine McKenzie and Carolyn Parkhurst in taking the reader on the emotional rides that define marriage and family.
Booklist
Fabiaschi's even tone and her characters' bright intelligence inspire empathy and, for the most part, keep the proceedings away from the maudlin. Great pains are initially taken to explore the main theme: tragedy often has no reason, and those experiencing it must contend with the reasonlessness as well as the loss.... An earnest effort from a natural storyteller.
Kirkus Reviews
I Liked My Life nonetheless is an affirmation of love and the ability to survive grief and find joy again. Book clubs in particular will take delight in the wealth of emotion to ponder from this talented new voice.
Shelf Awareness
Discussion Questions
Through Madeline’s past, I Liked My Life explores the day to day of stay-at-home moms. Do you feel Maddy’s experience generally represents the realities of that lifestyle? What, if anything, would have changed if they weren’t as wealthy?
2. Motherhood is a reoccurring theme throughout the book. Was there a relationship you particularly related to—Maddy/her mother; Eve/Maddy; Rory/Linda; Meg/Lucy?
3. Brady had grown up in a religious household but, over time, lost touch with those roots. Have you carried forward childhood religious traditions? Why or why not?
4. Paige and Maddy have been friends for a decade. Did you find their backstory relatable to friendships in your life?
5. Eve finds herself mourning at a tender, uncertain time of life. As part of that process, she no longer feels connected to her group of friends, or even her age group more broadly. How does her inner dialogue compare to where you were at emotionally at 16/17?
6. Eve and Brady have a contentious relationship at the beginning of the novel. What is the turning point where they soften toward each other? Does it happen at the same time for both of them?
7. Brady asserts that Maddy was the “liaison” between he and Eve. Do you feel that’s a common role mothers play between daughters and fathers? How does that compare to your childhood?
8. Do you feel the book would have worked if Maddy had died at the hands of a more common tragedy, like cancer or a car accident? Why or why not?
9. Many themes are touched on in this novel: motherhood, family roles, marriage, mourning. Which most resonated with you?
10. In the end, Brady does not end up with Rory. How did you feel about that?
11. Brady and Eve both grieved very differently. How much do you think one’s age impacts how they mourn? Gender?
12. The story ends with a snippet into Eve’s life at 27. Was she where you would have imagined her?
13. Both Eve and Brady go to a therapist. Do you think that helped? How and when do you see therapy as a positive tool?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
In the Midst of Winter
Isabel Allende, 2017
Atria Books
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781501178139
Summary
A sweeping novel about three very different people who are brought together in a mesmerizing story that journeys from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil.
In the Midst of Winter begins with a minor traffic accident—which becomes the catalyst for an unexpected and moving love story between two people who thought they were deep into the winter of their lives.
Richard Bowmaster—a 60-year-old human rights scholar—hits the car of Evelyn Ortega—a young, undocumented immigrant from Guatemala—in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn. What at first seems just a small inconvenience takes an unforeseen and far more serious turn when Evelyn turns up at the professor’s house seeking help.
At a loss, the professor asks his tenant Lucia Maraz—a 62-year-old lecturer from Chile—for her advice.
These three very different people are brought together in a mesmerizing story that moves from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil, sparking the beginning of a long overdue love story between Richard and Lucia.
Exploring the timely issues of human rights and the plight of immigrants and refugees, the book recalls Allende’s landmark novel The House of the Spirits in the way it embraces the cause of "humanity, and it does so with passion, humor, and wisdom that transcend politics" (Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post).
In the Midst of Winter will stay with you long after you turn the final page. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 2, 1942
• Where—Lima, Peru
• Education—private schools in Bolivia and Lebanon
• Awards—Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, 1998; Sara Lee Foundation Award, 1998; WILLA
Literary Award, 2000
• Currently—lives in San Rafael, California, USA
Isabel Allende is a Chilean writer whose works sometimes contain aspects of the "magic realist" tradition. Author of more than 20 books—essay collections, memoirs, and novels, she is perhaps best known for her novels The House of the Spirits (1982), Daughter of Fortune (1999), and Ines of My Soul (2006). She has been called "the world's most widely read Spanish-language author." All told her novels have been translated from Spanish into over 30 languages and have sold more than 55 million copies.
Her novels are often based upon her personal experience and pay homage to the lives of women, while weaving together elements of myth and realism. She has lectured and toured many American colleges to teach literature. Fluent in English as a second language, Allende was granted American citizenship in 2003, having lived in California with her American husband since 1989.
Early background
Allende was born Isabel Allende Llona in Lima, Peru, the daughter of Francisca Llona Barros and Tomas Allende, who was at the time the Chilean ambassador to Peru. Her father was a first cousin of Salvador Allende, President of Chile from 1970 to 1973, making Salvador her first cousin once removed (not her uncle as he is sometimes referred to).
In 1945, after her father had disappeared, Isabel's mother relocated with her three children to Santiago, Chile, where they lived until 1953. Allende's mother married diplomat Ramon Huidobro, and from 1953-1958 the family moved often, including to Bolivia and Beirut. In Bolivia, Allende attended a North American private school; in Beirut, she attended an English private school. The family returned to Chile in 1958, where Allende was briefly home-schooled. In her youth, she read widely, particularly the works of William Shakespeare.
From 1959 to 1965, while living in Chile, Allende finished her secondary studies. She married Miguel Frias in 1962; the couple's daughter Paula was born in 1963 and their son Nicholas in 1966. During that time Allende worked with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Santiago, Chile, then in Brussels, Belgium, and elsewhere in Europe.
Returning to Chile in 1996, Allende translated romance novels (including those of Barbara Cartland) from English to Spanish but was fired for making unauthorized changes to the dialogue in order to make the heriones sound more intelligent. She also altered the Cinderella endings, letting the heroines find more independence.
In 1967 Allende joined the editorial staff for Paula magazine and in 1969 the children's magazine Mampato, where she later became editor. She published two children's stories, Grandmother Panchita and Lauchas y Lauchones, as well as a collection of articles, Civilice a Su Troglodita.
She also worked in Chilean television from 1970-1974. As a journalist, she interviewed famed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Neruda told Allende that she had too much imagination to be a journalist and that she should become a novelist. He also advised her to compile her satirical columns in book form—which she did and which became her first published book. In 1973, Allende's play El Embajador played in Santiago, a few months before she was forced to flee the country due to the coup.
The military coup in September 1973 brought Augusto Pinochet to power and changed everything for Allende. Her mother and diplotmat stepfather narrowly escaped assassination, and she herself began receiving death threats. In 1973 Allende fled to Venezuela.
Life after Chile
Allende remained in exile in Venezuela for 13 years, working as a columnist for El Nacional, a major newspaper. On a 1988 visit to California, she met her second husband, attorney Willie Gordon, with whom she now lives in San Rafael, California. Her son Nicolas and his children live nearby.
In 1992 Allende's daughter Paula died at the age of 28, the result of an error in medication while hospitalized for porphyria (a rarely fatal metabolic disease). To honor her daughter, Allenda started the Isabel Allende Foundation in 1996. The foundation is "dedicated to supporting programs that promote and preserve the fundamental rights of women and children to be empowered and protected."
In 1994, Allende was awarded the Gabriela Mistral Order of Merit—the first woman to receive this honor.
She was granted U.S. citizenship in 2003 and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004. She was one of the eight flag bearers at the Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
In 2008 Allende received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from San Francisco State University for her "distinguished contributions as a literary artist and humanitarian." In 2010 she received Chile's National Literature Prize.
Writing
In 1981, during her exile, Allende received a phone call that her 99-year-old grandfather was near death. She sat down to write him a letter wishing to "keep him alive, at least in spirit." Her letter evolved into The House of the Spirits—the intent of which was to exorcise the ghosts of the Pinochet dictatorship. Although rejected by numerous Latin American publishers, the novel was finally published in Spain, running more than two dozen editions in Spanish and a score of translations. It was an immense success.
Allende has since become known for her vivid storytelling. As a writer, she holds to a methodical literary routine, working Monday through Saturday, 9:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. "I always start on 8 January,"Allende once said, a tradition that began with the letter to her dying grandfather.
Her 1995 book Paula recalls Allende's own childhood in Santiago, Chile, and the following years she spent in exile. It is written as an anguished letter to her daughter. The memoir is as much a celebration of Allende's turbulent life as it is the chronicle of Paula's death.
Her 2008 memoir The Sum of Our Days centers on her recent life with her immediate family—her son, second husband, and grandchildren. The Island Beneath the Sea, set in New Orleans, was published in 2010. Maya's Notebook, a novel alternating between Berkeley, California, and Chiloe, an island in Chile, was published in 2011 (2013 in the U.S.). Three movies have been based on her novels—Aphrodite, Eva Luna, and Gift for a Sweetheart. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 5/23/2013.)
Book Reviews
In Isabel Allende’s new novel, a snowstorm and a car accident bring three people together on an unexpected journey that transforms their lives. As if this premise is not sufficiently hackneyed, Allende adds literary insult to injury by spelling it out in breathy prose: "Over the next three days, as the storm wearied of punishing the land and dissolved far out to sea, the lives of Lucia Maraz, Richard Bowmaster and Evelyn Ortega would become inextricably linked." The novel is riddled with such formulations. Seemingly intended to stab at the surreal, fablelike quality for which Allende is known, they come off as merely soppy and uninspired. In fact, the story owes less to magical realism than to histrionic crime dramas.
Elizabeth Winkler - New York Times Book Review
(Starred review.) Grief and loss are transformed into a healing friendship in this fantastic novel from Allende.… Filled with Allende’s signature lyricism and ingenious plotting, the book delves wonderfully into what it means to respect, protect, and love.
Publishers Weekly
Richard Bowmaster feels he's hit the end of the road — and one snow-blown Brooklyn night really does hit the car of Evelyn Ortega. Young, undocumented Guatemalan Evelyn later appears at his house seeking help, which sends him scurrying to his tenant, Chilean lecturer Lucia Maraz, for advice.
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Themes of lasting passion, friendship, reflections in old age, and how people react to challenging circumstances…. As always, her lively storytelling pulls readers into her characters' lives immediately… the story has many heart felt moments, and readers will be lining up for it.
Booklist
The horrors of Evelyn's past have left her all but mute; Richard is a complete nervous wreck; Lucia fears there is no greater love coming her way than that of her Chihuahua, Marcelo. This winter's tale has something to melt each frozen heart.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Each of the three main characters—Lucia, Evelyn, and Richard—experiences some kind of isolation in their present life. The book begins with Lucia physically isolated in her apartment during a snowstorm. In what other ways is she isolated? How is her isolation different from Evelyn’s? And from Richard’s?
2. Evelyn comes to the United States as a refugee fleeing violence. Compare her experience entering the country with that of other immigrants you know of or have read about. Why did they leave their native countries, and what were their first experiences as immigrants? Did you find any aspects of Evelyn’s journey surprising? It is said that the United States is a country of immigrants, and that immigrants made this country great. Do you agree? Why or why not? Did this book change the way you think about immigrants? If so, how?
3. Many immigrants in the United States currently work in caretaker jobs: as nannies taking care of small children, or as home health aides caring for the sick, elderly, or dying. Do you know of any immigrants in these kinds of jobs? Do they encounter any difficulties similar to Evelyn’s? How do Frankie’s parents treat Evelyn? Why does she seem "invisible" to Frankie’s father?
4. Evelyn‘s relationship with Frankie is very special, and reveals a lot about her character. Why is she so successful at caring for him? In what ways does she expand his horizons? Do you know of someone who works with people who are physically, mentally, or emotionally challenged? Do they share any of Evelyn‘s character traits?
5. When Evelyn leaves her native village, she tells her grandmother Concepcion, "Just as I am going, Grandma, so I will return." Compare Evelyn’s relationship with her grandmother to her relationship with her mother, Miriam. What positive things has each of them given to Evelyn?
6. Lucia loses her brother during the political turmoil in Chile during the early 1970s and is forced to flee the country, eventually becoming an exile in Canada. What qualities does she have that help her face her life as an exile? Do you know of anyone who is an exile? What special difficulties do they share? How do the challenges of Lucia’s exile compare with Evelyn’s challenges as a refugee?
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?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)