The Heart of Winter Audiobook By Jonathan Evison cover art

The Heart of Winter

A Novel

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The Heart of Winter

By: Jonathan Evison
Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
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About this listen

A Seattle Times Bestseller

One of The Washington Post’s 10 Noteworthy Books for January

One of The Los Angeles Times’ 10 Books to Add to Your Reading List in January

One of The Seattle Times’ 24 Books to Look Out for in 2025

One of Kirkus' Best 20 Books to Read in January

The extraordinary new novel by Jonathan Evison, about a married couple in their golden years, from when they met across big ups, deep downs, and survive-it-all, opposites-attract love

Abe Winter and Ruth Warneke were never meant to be together—at least if you ask Ruth. Yet their catastrophic blind date in college evolved into a seventy-year marriage and a life on a farm on Bainbridge Island with their hens and beloved Labrador, Megs. Through the years, the Winters have fallen in and out of lockstep, and from their haunting losses and guarded secrets, a dependable partnership has been forged.

But when Ruth’s loose tooth turns out to be something much more malicious, the beautiful, reliable life they’ve created together comes to a crisis. As Ruth struggles with her crumbling independence, Abe must learn how to take care of her while their three living children question his ability to look after his wife. And once again, the couple has to reconfigure how to be there for each other.

In this bighearted and profound portrait of a marriage, Jonathan Evison explores seventy years of big moments in subtle ways, elegantly braiding the Winters’ turbulent history with their present-day battles, showing us how the oddly paired college kids became parents, fell apart and back together, and grew into the Abe and Ruth of today. Endlessly heartwarming and moving, The Heart of Winter is a reminder that true love lives in small, everyday moments.

©2025 Jonathan Evison (P)2025 Penguin Audio
Family Life Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Marriage Heartfelt
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Critic reviews

"Jonathan Evison, the brilliant American storyteller, has written a novel for the ages. Abe and Ruth Winter are in a long marriage, having experienced all the joy and pain that comes from living in a lifelong partnership. Ruth is a resplendent character, a mother and wife with dreams of her own, while Abe has to reinvent himself when the worst happens. Love, forgiveness and redemption built the soul of this story. A must read."—Adriana Trigiani, author of The Good Left Undone

“One of our very best writers, Evison expertly details the hopes and dreams, sacrifices and tragedies of family life.”Bill Kelly, Booklist (starred review)

“A savvy portrait of love and devotion. . . . [Evison] affords this aging couple a dose of realism and dignity that’s often lacking in novels.”–Kirkus (starred review)

Beautiful Love Story • Excellent Narration • Plausible Storyline • Stunning Portrayal • Remarkable Writing
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Dating,marriage,,parenting, pivotal moments with characters and events that touch your heart. It feels like you are part of their lives.
Jonathan Evison is a talented, remarkable, author.
A beautiful novel.

Wow!

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The story is simply stunning in how well it highlights marriage and the challenges of a healthy relationship.

Real Life and all of its highs and lows

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I loved every aspect of this glorious novel. Perhaps it’s my past middle age status but I honestly would have loved this book at any age.

Beautiful Love Story

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This is a very enjoyable Pacific Northwest family story that begins at the university of Washington and follows a couple through life. Not always an easy life but a life story that is very well written.

Love this book

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A beautifully written and beautifully performed. This will be in my top reads of 2025.

A beautiful story about a lifetime love

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The style of writing keeps the reader engaged with every character! It is a wonderful story of how love grows.

Beautifully told story of a marriage

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An excellent book, which was well written and nicely paced. The story showed a family's journey starting in mid-century America. In addition, it was a realistic depiction of marriage, family, and aging.

I have to admit that I didn't care for Ruth, but that wasn't a negative for me. A book with all likable characters is pretty boring, in my opinion. I also couldn't bear to listen to the ending (Megs).

I enjoyed this book so much that I plan to read the author's other offerings and add him to my "follow" roster.

Story of a Marriage

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You will experience every feeling, love all the characters, and wish the book never ended.

Such a beautiful story!

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Beautiful and honest. Tears and laughter in every chapter. I am so sad to be finished

True to life

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The beautiful book speaks to the beauty, struggle, joy, pain, celebration, failure, patience, compassion, compromise and self reflection that marriage asks of us. Like a fly on a wall we witness the transitions that families face in all stages of life with compassion, patience, respect and trust. I loved it.

Eloquent

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