**The captivating new novel from the multi-million-bestselling author of The House of the Spirits and The Japanese Lover**New York Times bestseller Isabel Allende returns with a beautifully crafted, multi-generational novel of struggle, endurance and friendship against the odds. Amid the biggest Brooklyn snowstorm in living memory, an unexpected friendship blossoms between three people thrown together by circumstance. Richard Bowmaster, a lonely university professor in his sixties, hits the car driven by Evelyn Ortega, a young, undocumented migrant from Guatemala. But what at first seems an inconvenience takes an unforeseen and darker turn when Evelyn comes to him and his neighbour Lucia Maraz, desperately seeking help. Sweeping from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala to turbulent 1970s Chile and Brazil, and woven with Isabel Allende's trademark humanity, passion and storytelling verve, In the Midst of Winter is a mesmerizing and unforgettable tale. Praise for Isabel Allende: `Isabel Allende is a master storyteller. When it comes to love Isabel writes from the heart to the heart and I feel all the richer for having been touched by her' Santa Montefiore `If Allende's life depended on her narrative gifts, she'd not only survive, but reign' Los Angeles Times `Isabel Allende is the most romantic of writers and The Japanese Lover is a novel of high romance and lush sensuality, unashamedly about the enduring power of love and ending on a note of grace' The Times `Lush storytelling, with a liberal dusting of South American magical realism and a multi-gener-ational narrative sweep' Financial Times