The opening of this novel reminded me so much of "Wuthering Heights," which gets it off to a great start. A poor, vulnerable immigrant housekeeper named Evelyn arrives, at the titular time at a Brooklyn apartment, shared by Richard Bowmaster, a disillusioned academic now teaching at NYU, and Lucia, his tenant, who lives downstairs.
All have their own set of baggage, which Allende chronicles in excellent, heartbreaking, detail. I found Richard's story the most tragic, as the amount of grief he is asked to carry around is enough to break anyone. I am amazed it did not break him.
In addition to shifting between time and places--Brooklyn, Chile, Guatemala--Evelyn, in the present, involves Richard and Lucia in a mystery that ups the ante of the reader's pleasure.
Allende is one of the few authors who could meld these elements together so skillfully. I was spellbound to the last page.
Girls, you must read it! In the dead of the Winter we are now in, this is a shining, beacon of hope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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