The Heart of Winter by Jonathan Evison
Publication date: January 7, 2025
Genres: Book Clubs, Fiction, Literary
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When Abe and Ruth meet on a blind date while students at the University of Washington it’s not love at first sight. In fact, it’s not even like. Ruth finds Abe to be stodgy, full of himself, and boring. He, on the other hand, is captivated by her vivacious personality and her varied interests, even if her ideas about the future seem flaky. From this inauspicious beginning, The Heart of Winter journeys forward with Abe and Ruth through 70 years of marriage. A serious health scare for Ruth prompts reminiscences of their long life together even as the unwelcome realities of old age are forced upon them.
Abe persevered (to an extraordinary degree) to win Ruth’s heart, but while the passion of youth played its part so did a pregnancy and the impossibility of being in such a situation in the 1950s. Marriage is simply the next expected step in Abe’s life plan, but while Ruth loves him and wants a life with him she also wants to finish college and see something of the world before settling down. Instead, their daughter Anne’s arrival is followed by son Kyle and then another daughter and those dreams fade away in the midst of the chaos of raising children. When Abe joins a small insurance agency on Bainbridge Island off the Washington coast he finds a small farm and buys it for their growing family. The two are still there now, but the property’s size and isolation is ever more challenging.
Author Jonathan Evison goes beneath the facts of the Winter’s marriage to reveal its underpinnings, the most private aspects of both Abe and Ruth through the years. Stripped of romance he unearths the realities of seven decades between two loving, but diametrically opposed people. The impact of societal expectations is strongly shown as, time and again, Evison gently opens Ruth’s heart, exposing the innermost thoughts and feelings of a woman who had hopes for a bigger, creative life but sets them aside to conform. A choice her husband never has to make.
As a woman from a completely different generation there were points within the story that felt frustrating even if they aligned with the times. This frustration was minor as Evison does an astonishing job distilling 70 years of marriage into a vivid, insightful novel. The Heart of Winter is a remarkable portrait of the compromise, care, tragedy, and tenderness found within the social constructs of traditional marriage. It’s deeply touching, familiar and foreign, and entirely rewarding reading.
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This book sounds amazing!! Thanks to bringing it to my attention! I love multi-decade examinations of things that might seem mundane, like marriage!!
It really is wonderful because so much of it is not- if that makes sense. It’s real.
Nice 5 stars! I think I will add this to my library list … I know Bainbridge fairly well … so the setting is a plus and I am a bit curious of their long marriage and the dreams that were lost. (I worked at the UW textbook dept circa 1990-1993. lol) I’m glad you liked it. I have not read this author before … but I know others have liked his books.
I hadn’t read him either, but loved this.
You worked at the UW Book Store? My closest friend was the manager of the books part of it. How funny!