A man, a woman, a young girl and a corpse add up to one of the loveliest and most unexpected romances I have ever read. This unlikely combination brings the reader a reminder of the spirit and ability to love that is never lost, despite age and difficulties.

Lucia and Richard, long past their prime are colleagues but an unlikely car accident and a corpse hidden in a trunk bring them together to dispose of the body and protect the young, frightened undocumented alien who was in the car.

Sadly, it takes the discovery of a death to remind Richard that despite his very troubled past, he is still alive. Lucia, still vibrant, despite illness and other hardships is given the opportunity to find a caring life partner. This unlikely pair somehow manages to move rogether to protect the frightened Evelyn. Their trip to dispose of the body is their penance and an opportunity to cleanse and restart their lives.

Allende is a mesmerizing writer who gives these characters and their histories, an authenticity that makes the reader crave their happiness. It is a lesson in love, redemption and hope which left me with a sense of joy and optimism. What an enchanting novel.

Brooklyn was in the midst of an epic snowstorm when Richard Bowmaster drove his seriously ill cat to the local animal hospital. On the way home, his car hit another car, driven by Evelyn Ortega, a nanny. This began this tale of three troubled people who join forces to solve a serious problem and how two of them found love.

Richard was the someone neurotic head of the Latin American Studies department at NYU and he owned a brownstone in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Lucia Maraz was his lonely tenant and also a co-worker in that NYU department. Evelyn was an illegal alien working as a nanny for a local Brooklyn family.

Evelyn had used a car owned by one of her employers to run an errand in the snow. After Richard's car hit the car she was driving, she discovered the dead body of another family employee in the trunk.

Richard engaged Lucia's help with Evelyn who was traumatized by the accident and the discovery of the dead body. The three of them shared their life stories as they decided how to dispose of the dead body. We learned about Richard's life as an American teacher living in Brazil and his doomed marriage to a Brazilian woman. Lucia was college educated in Canada and had been writing about the "disappeared" in her native Chile before she came to America to teach. Evelyn escaped her native Guatemala to avoid the fate of her two brothers who died at the hands of MS 13 , an international gang.

Allende, herself an immigrant from South America, does an excellent job of exposing everyday life of people in these countries. Her description of Evelyn's escape from Guatemala through Mexico and finally into the US is memorable.

Smiling ear-to-ear!!!!! Awwwwww that was fun!!!

Isabel Allende - "QUEEN OF STORYTELLING"....born into a Chilean family - blends many of my favorite topics in this story .....
.......love, aging, pessimism, optimism, humor, seriousness ( political - social issues), history and personal background stories taking place in some of the most fascinating places on earth: Brooklyn, Brazil, Guatemala, Canada, and Chile,
.......chaos & drama, great chemistry between her characters, atrocious weather, ( challenges with the elements), fleas, ulcers, food poisoning, mystery of a dead body found in the trunk of a car, Magic Brownies, adventure trip with friends, crappy hotel, moose shit, and a chihuahua named Marcelo.

Richard Bownaster, is a human rights scholar at NYU. He lives in Prospect Heights. Lucia Maraz is his tenant - living in the basement -from Chile- a visiting professor teaching Latin American and Caribbean studies. Her one daughter, Daniela, lives in Miami. Richard is her boss.

Both Richard and Lucia have experienced the joys and failures, loss and grief of life. They aren't young puppies. They are in their 60's.

Richard has been living like a hermit.....he takes green pills for anxiety- is a vegetarian- stays away from gluten- has 4 cats ( their purpose is to digest the rodents), has stomach problems, and lives in a controlled careful environment.

Lucia might be close in age as Richard - also experienced loss and grief - failures and hurts - but she's clear she still wants to live passionately while aging...as much as possible. She's bright -outspoken -seductive- sensual - with contagious energy.

Evelyn is a very small thin young woman......a nanny for a young boy name Frankie with multiple sclerosis - also a diabetic. Her employers- Cheryl and Leroy have marital problems.
She is undocumented.
The weather was cold - windy - the road was icy.....when Evelyn takes Leroy's Lexus without permission to the drugstore--( Leroy - her boss -was out of town).

After the minor car accident.....an engaging, sometimes whimsical, adventurous enjoyable story, takes place between three memorable characters: Richard, Lucia. and Evelyn. ...... a little love touches your heart too!

I HAD A BLAST READING THIS STORY!!!! When's the movie coming out?

Thank You Atria Books, Netgalley, and Isabel Allende