THE HEART OF WINTER

Scenes from a long, unlikely, battle-tested marriage.

Evison’s ninth novel opens in 2023, on Abe Winter’s 90th birthday party. A modest, conservative man—lifelong Republican, sold insurance for years, lives on a quiet patch of land on Bainbridge Island, Washington—he dislikes all the celebratory attention from his wife, Ruth, and three children. But there’s a lot going on beneath his stolid facade, which we learn more about once Ruth is diagnosed with a malignant tumor in her jaw, prompting surgery, a difficult recovery, therapy, and suddenly urgent questions regarding mortality and elder care. Evison shuttles between past and present to explore their relationship and clarify their response to the crisis. They met in college as a quintessential opposites-attract couple—Abe a prim "I Like Ike" type, Ruth a progressive poetry lover—and soon settled down and formed a family. Evison chronicles some familiar domestic-novel disruptions—infidelity, resentment over division of labor, a tragic loss—but because we know they stuck together, the novel’s mood is one of accomplishment. As Evison writes, a marriage “is shaped gradually and methodically to withstand the ruinous effects of time and outside forces beyond the control of its principal players.” Their past challenges add to the drama of Ruth’s illness and Abe’s earnest but fumbling attempts to care for her. In the process, he affords this aging couple a dose of realism and dignity that’s often lacking in novels. Evison neatly balances their everyday lives, from running an errand to taking a shower, with a broader portrait of how couples adapt and grow closer in the face of challenges. Evison’s vision is unsentimental, but he’s rooting for Abe and Ruth, and encouraging readers to do the same.

A savvy portrait of love and devotion.