4.75 stars

While I have several of Jonathan Evison’s books on my list, his upcoming release THE HEART OF WINTER is the first novel I’ve read by him. I was so blown away by it! 

In this novel, we are introduced to an elderly (on the cusp of 90 years old) married couple Abe and Ruth. Ruth discovers a loose tooth in 2023, and that leads to a cancer diagnosis. The reader is then taken through the journey of them meeting and their marriage from the 1950s through 2024. This is a study of these two people as individuals and their marriage together. They had a tough early marriage with a child right away, causing Ruth to feel saddled by domesticity, and Abe making decisions for both of them without talking to his wife. When things evened out some, they lost their second daughter. Life was often bumpy, but these two stuck it out. 

I felt like I identified with each Ruth and Abe in some ways, and I felt that Evison drew the characters so well. There were specific scenes toward the end that broke my heart - and one that also made me laugh when Abe was looking for prune juice at Safeway. 

Character-driven readers who enjoy reading about a character over a lifetime (think THE HEART’S INVISIBLE FURIES) are the target demographic for this book. I think this will strike a chord for middle-aged readers, like me, as well. They can identify with the life decisions these characters experienced for much of the novel, and they can also see a preview of what’s coming in the future or perhaps identify with what their parents are dealing with. I loved how the author created scenes, but sometimes there was more narration when I thought a scene or longer scene would make the point better. 

“Sometimes we need a complement, a contradiction, a counterpoint to be our best selves.”

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. 

THE HEART OF WINTER publishes January 7, 2025.