Interview with Martin Signorin, author of The Luck Illusion

 

 Today, My Writing Life is interviewing Martin Signorin, author of The Luck Illusion. His work as a teacher, together with experiences in his own life, led him to examine what luck truly means. Martin is a British nonfiction author who has lived in Bulgaria since 2005.

 Martin argues that “luck is compressed causality”. What we call good or bad luck may be the visible result of many influences operating together, including health, family background, education, financial security, geography, relationships, opportunity, probability and unexpected disruption.

 

My Writing Life: What motivated you to write The Luck Illusion? What is the purpose of your book?

Martin: When a question has been spinning in your head for years and you suddenly feel compelled to find an answer, you have to write it down.

It began with people who seemed to experience persistent good or bad luck, with the pattern often continuing in the same direction.

 Why should that be? The investigation began properly once I retired and had time on my hands.

The aim was to share what I found clearly and memorably. It needed to be credible and supported by established research, but readable without a background in psychology, philosophy or probability.

I was never trying to remove the word luck from our language; it still has value. Calling a successful person fortunate can leave room for humility, while describing somebody as unlucky can offer a pardon from harsh criticism.

Empathy shaped the book from its earliest planning.

Understanding the circumstances behind an outcome does not remove personal responsibility; it allows that responsibility to be judged more honestly. The difficulty begins when luck becomes the final answer and enquiry stops. I wanted readers to ask what remains hidden beneath it.

 

My Writing Life: How did your work as a teacher and your personal experiences influence the book?

Martin: After graduating in music composition, I turned to teaching because sharing what I knew felt natural. I worked as a peripatetic special needs teacher, specialising in dyslexia, before moving into primary school teaching.

Teaching in poor and affluent areas made it impossible to ignore how differently children’s social environments shaped their prospects. They were judged by similar standards, yet arrived with very different levels of security, encouragement, experience and expectation. It showed me how unfair life can be before a child has made any meaningful choice, and how easily that disadvantage can continue.

Those experiences gave me the idea for Walsdos, apparently born unlucky, although I could just as easily have written about someone seen as lucky from birth. I felt I already understood some of what lay behind those differences; the research tested that understanding and revealed other causes I had not fully considered.

Running a smallholding in Bulgaria had taught me something similar: effort mattered, but so did weather, prices and timing. Cancer and its treatment later disrupted my sporting life and what I had expected to be a stress-free retirement, eventually forcing me to give up the smallholding. Walsdos also loses parts of the life he expected because of illness. It felt like bad luck, but I knew it wasn’t just that.

 

My Writing Life: What makes your book unique? What do you expect readers to get from your book?

Martin: Its short length and accessibility are part of what makes it distinctive. The subject did not need four hundred pages merely to appear serious. Pairing research with Walsdos’s fictional life shows the ideas at work, while the Setback Audit lets readers examine their own outcomes.

I wanted the book to provoke thought and surprise readers with what lay beneath a word they had used all their lives. I hoped they would finish with a fuller understanding of success and failure, recognising effort without treating it as the sole cause of an outcome.

Since publication, readers have told me the book changed how they see luck or stayed with them for days. Laura Hattersley’s Reedsy Discovery review said it “replaces superstition by challenging readers to view success and failure more realistically”; Jeyran Main called it “compassionate without being simplistic”; and BigAl’s Books and Pals wrote that some of its points had “adjusted my thinking for the better”. Vagabond magazine wrote that it lets us see “Walsdos’s story – and our own narratives – with new eyes”, concluding, “We can say he has succeeded.”

I find such comments genuinely humbling. The book demanded much more time and uncertainty than its length suggests, and hearing that it achieved its purpose makes all the effort worthwhile.

 

My Writing Life: Why did you choose a fictional character for a nonfiction book?

Martin: Mainly because I wanted a less abstract format. Heavy academic studies have their place; this book needed to reach general readers without asking them to spend weeks absorbing theory.

Walsdos allows readers to watch those causes gather around one life, becoming experiences with consequences instead of items in a list. The research and reasoning remain nonfiction; his story gives them a human setting.

Using a real person would have risked presenting one biography as proof of a wider argument. Because Walsdos belongs to no single real life, he can stand for many and bring an emotional dimension less common in serious psychology and philosophy.

 

My Writing Life: When did you start writing? What inspires you to write?

Martin: I used to find writing a chore. That probably began at school, when my English teacher told me I had no interest in the subject and would never pass my examinations. Her judgement stayed with me for many years, although she was probably right about my lack of interest then.

Apart from writing for work and essential correspondence, I felt no passion for the written word until, as I sometimes put it, I ran away from the UK and settled in Bulgaria. This lesser-known country in Eastern Europe gave me many things I wanted to share. During my first year, I kept a daily diary that remains tucked away and unpublished. That was the start. While running a smallholding, I also began writing as a freelance journalist for an expatriate website, and a task I once disliked became something I loved and wanted to keep doing.

Poverty and hardship are often far more visible here, and I was no longer observing them from a comfortable distance. I lived among people whose prospects had been shaped by political change, insecure work, limited money and events beyond their control. That experience deepened my empathy and gave my writing new life.

My interests have never stayed in one area, and I have been involved in music, sport, beer making, cookery and running a smallholding. Writing music has now evolved into writing books.

My philosophy has always carried an anti-establishment, non-materialistic edge, making me question accepted rules and ask why things work as they do. I have seen too much of life in which people are led to believe something because the belief serves somebody else’s purpose. Power and greed often shape what is presented as natural or necessary, even while the planet is being damaged. More than twenty years later, the desire to write about what I experience has not waned.

 

My Writing Life: What kinds of books do you like to read? Are there any specific authors who influenced you?

Martin: There is a difference between what I like to read and what I need to read.

My father used to force me to read as a child, warning that if I did not, I would become a dustbin man. I have to admit that it didn’t turn me into an avid reader, although I didn’t become a dustbin man either. I generally read to find information, not simply for pleasure.

Most of my reading consists of nonfiction and reference books, which I use to deepen my understanding and improve what I can do. I have a wonderful collection covering cookery, beer making, gardening, farming, cycling, running and music, including many scores. I love the sight and smell of the collection and the comfort of knowing it forms a kind of literary timeline through my life.

Fiction largely lives in my dreams because, during the day, reality hits from all angles. When researching, I trace ideas through several sources, follow references and compare the relevant sections; I rarely read every source from beginning to end.

Even so, certain authors have influenced me. George Orwell understood that language can reveal the truth or help conceal it. John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath shows how poverty, banks, weather, work, migration, pride and hunger shape individual lives. Daniel Kahneman and Nassim Nicholas Taleb have shaped my thinking about randomness and the stories people tell after an outcome is known. Laurie Lee and Patrick Leigh Fermor showed me how close observation of ordinary people and places can carry a much wider argument.

I am naturally sceptical, and sometimes a writer is useful because I resist what is being said and have to decide why.

 

My Writing Life: Are you working on any other writing project now?

Martin: Absolutely. I am very excited about The Shadow Biography: How Imagined Lives Shape the One We Live, now in its final stages and planned for publication in January 2027.

The book examines the imagined life that can develop beside the one we actually live. Wishes, regrets, missed opportunities and possible versions of ourselves gradually accumulate until we begin comparing reality with a life that never had to encounter ordinary uncertainty or consequence. Like The Luck Illusion, it places a fictional character within a serious nonfiction argument.

I have also begun my third book, provisionally titled The Unseen Audience, which explores how imagined judgements affect what people reveal, conceal or avoid before anybody has responded. Over time, we may begin to inspect ourselves through eyes not yet turned towards us.

 

Author’s bio:

Martin Signorin is a British nonfiction author who has lived in southeastern Bulgaria since 2005. Before retiring, he worked in education, including primary teaching and supporting children with dyslexia.

 

His first book, The Luck Illusion: Why Success Isn’t Random — and What Actually Shapes Your Life, grew from a long-standing interest in the circumstances that influence people before effort or choice can fully take effect. Drawing on psychology, philosophy and everyday experience, the book examines the hidden causes behind outcomes we often describe as lucky or unlucky.

 

Martin writes nonfiction for general readers, combining research with observation, personal experience and reflective storytelling. His work explores familiar ideas that can seem straightforward until examined more closely, particularly questions about judgment, success, failure, choice, and the forces that shape human lives.

 

He is currently working on further nonfiction exploring how people understand themselves, their choices, and the lives they might otherwise have lived.

A Silence Shared by Lalla Romano

 “For me, to write has always been to pluck from the dense and complex fabric of life some image, from the noise of the world some note, and surround them in silence.” 

 Lalla Romano

      When a tyrant starts a war and tries to impose a fascist regime, the strongest response of resistance is one of love, community and friendship. This may be the subtle message of A Silence Shared… Techno-fascism may require the same kind of resistance, even though techno-fascism has the power to sabotage love, community and friendship in more effective ways. Can insightful books battle these effects?

        The fact that Lalla Romano wrote A Silence Shared in the 1950s is mind boggling. She was clearly ahead of her times. Lalla Romano (1906-2001) was awarded several prestigious prizes in Italy for her literary works. Yet the literary recognition she attained was not enough to have her works translated into the English language until the year 2023. Why did this happen? The only reason that comes to mind is her gender.

        She was a woman.

         Lalla Romano was a visual artist before she became a writer. She was also a teacher and a translator of literary works.

            A Silence Shared is a novel based on the personal experiences of the author. The story takes place in a small town in the province of Cuneo, Italy, in the early 1940s. Giulia lost her home, so she has to stay with a couple of cousins with whom she does not have much in common. The place where she stays is oppressive and dull, but Giulia finds solace and peace when she visits her friends, Ada and Paolo, a married couple with a daughter. Stefano, Giulia’s husband, is away working in Turin, but he comes and stays with them when he is available.

      “The cousins had set up a gloomy room for us, their mother’s old sitting room. The only option was to stay put on the bed, in that room cramped with furniture and other useless things, which moreover happened to be freezing cold. The bed, located in the middle of the room, was tall and had a bulging ‘bombe’ frame. It wasn’t a double bed, and even for two skinny people it was tight.”

      The way Giulia feels about her childhood town helps the reader understand her better in that setting:

                        “I felt lost in that town, where I had spent my childhood no less: my return had been forced by the war.” This may have been the bridge to the friendship with Ada and Paolo, who may have felt lost too.

      The beginning of the novel caught my attention straight away. Lalla Romano is introducing Ada and Paolo:

                                            “I had heard people talk about them, the way locals talk about out-of-towners: as something suspicious, if not outright scandalous. He, a teacher and intellectual, sent to that isolated town near the border as if in a kind of exile; she, proud, aristocratic. No one knew how they managed to get by: they didn’t give lessons, and yet no one could say they had racked up any debts. Worst of all was that they ‘didn’t go to church.’ I felt bad for these strangers. For them, life in that provincial town could not have been easy.”

                   The intrigue in this introduction suits the story. The author will carve deeper into situations that expose the authentic self of the characters.

                   How can one describe the mystical nature of Lalla Romano’s poetical prose? Entrancing and vivid, her words paint landscapes and people with artistry and empathy. She endows her writing with both simplicity and depth.

                  One of her talents is to awaken the reader’s curiosity in the people she describes. How refreshing it is to read her prose! 

                  I appreciate that she deals with her main characters with respect and unsentimental tenderness. Lalla Romano examines the heart of the characters with sensitivity and realistic expectations instead of encasing them in boring stereotypes. Modern writers have a lot to learn from her work. (I will not elaborate on this; you can simply read previous blog posts of mine to understand my comparative statement).

                  Lalla Romano does not waste time boosting the power of prejudices and judgments. Her insights reflect a deep understanding of the behaviors and attitudes of the people of Tetto Murato. Most importantly, one does not feel threatened or attacked when reading her prose.  It is a safe space of reflection and inspiration.

                 The shortage of food and fuel as an effect of war is portrayed in subtle ways. She shows how the characters respond to the effects of the war. In this paragraph, Lalla Romano refers to Ada:

                                  “She really was hungry but she was used to eating little, next to nothing actually, to the point that Paolo often scolded her and she would cover up the sacrifices she made with lines like ‘I already ate,’ or ’You know I don’t know how that tastes.’ Now she was loading up on food precisely in preparation for future fasts.”

                 Another example is the situation in which Giulia comes across an apple tree on her way back from work:

                                           “On the highest branches of the apple trees I would eye a few forgotten fruits, gleaming red; sometimes a fallen apple shimmered on top of the dirt in the field amid the sparse strands of newly sprouted wheat. Then I would look around me like a thief, climb over the low hedge, and run into the field. If a growling dog caught sight of me, my heart would leap into my throat; I’d hide the apple—always a tiny thing—in my hand.”

                Conclusion

    A Silence Shared is a stunning, delicate masterpiece, so I invite you to take your time with it; relish the moments of contemplation; explore its insights and vivid settings. It is a gift to get to know Ada, Paolo, Stefano and Giulia in the face of their ordeals. It is also entertaining to understand them.  

    Welcome the adventure of its prose and discover the humanity of its characters. It is a peaceful pause from the fast-paced rhythm of our lives.

     I purchased this book from a small local bookstore and I would love to keep it, but it would be selfish of me to do so. Therefore, I will gift it to a little free library.

     May this book find the right readers in its own mysterious journey.

 

 If you enjoyed this post, feel free to read the following blog posts:

 Italian Short stories edited by Jhumpa Lahiri

 

 The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer

 

Relevant links:

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/lalla-romano/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnEj_G2NR5c

A couple of articles about techno-fascism:

https://thephotosociety.org/marco-vernaschi-a-timeless-antidote-to-techno-fascism/

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00187259.2025.2585410

The Legacy of Luna by Julia Butterfly Hill

 

“Every time a species goes extinct, a part of our life has been altered forever. You cannot rip out one thread and not have the whole tapestry begin to unravel.”

Julia Butterfly Hill

  The Trump administration has effectively killed the Endangered Species Act. By enabling the destruction of habitats, it is putting several species at risk of extinction.

   Expanding the burning of fossil fuels leads to a hotter planet and pollutes the air and water. Contrary to popular belief, it does not help the economy. It damages the economy. On the other hand, supporting clean, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal makes energy more affordable, provides sustainable jobs and protects the quality of air and water. What is not to like about it?

   Yet seventy-seven million people voted against clean energy in November 2024; they voted to increase the cost of electricity and water; they voted to make people sick, and make life more dangerous and unsafe. They voted to deny climate change and pollute the air and water. How can anybody make sense of this? 

    In November 2024 seventy-seven million Americans voted to systematically attack the laws that protect our national parks and public lands.

  Let’s make the message clear and concise: Trump and his officials are systematically attacking the laws that protect our national parks and public lands.

  Burning fossil fuels and sabotaging the development of clean, renewable energy sources have devastating consequences. Climate change is killing people every day. Wildfires are spreading in several places across the world. Floods are more common and severe. Even the greediest people will not be able to extricate themselves from the effects of environmental disasters.

  I searched for Julia Butterfly Hill’s book seeking for guidance. Her book has the potential to inspire readers. 

   How do we respond when we face cruelty, abuse and destruction?

  Politicians are elected to protect the wellbeing of the people--not to sabotage it. There are politicians lining the pockets of the billionaires who fund their political campaigns, and, in doing so, they make the climate hotter, take away jobs, pollute the air and water. Food is more expensive and dangerous to consume; water is contaminated with cancer-causing toxins and it is getting harder to afford.

   When Julia Butterfly Hill lived in a tree called Luna for two years, she was not only protecting the life of the tree. She was standing up for the communities whose survival depended on the forests. Why? Those forests gave stability to the soil, not only because they preserved the nutrients there, but also because they helped to protect the setting from floods and mudslides.

 

The story of a mudslide that awakened people to the truth

 On December 31, 1996 Mike O’Neal and his family lost their home in the Stafford mudslide in California. Several families lost their homes too. Irresponsible logging had created the conditions that led to that disaster.

 Three days after the mudslide, Governor Pete Wilson flew over Stafford. Shocked by the devastation, he appointed a professor of civil and environmental engineering from the University of Michigan to investigate the cause of the mudslide. His name was Donald Gray.

 The logging company, however, hoped that professor Gray would agree with its position that the slide had been “an act of God”, a natural consequence precipitated by the December intense storm, but the professor explained that vegetation plays a role in absorbing excess moisture, so the excessive logging had affected the mountain’s structural stability.

 “Studies have shown that timber harvest sites have a disproportionately high incidence of slope failures compared to natural, undisturbed areas.”

  Despite Professor Gray’s assessment, the California Department of Forestry approved a plan to clearcut the slope directly next to the slide where a tree called Luna thrived.

 

       Reflections 

 I have been reflecting on how environmental destruction is intimately associated with abusive behaviors and violence. I have been pondering about the ways in which enabling and empowering abusers is also connected to the rape of Mother Earth. It is not surprising that the words “drill, baby, drill,” belong to the calls of pedophiles and rapists. It is not surprising that when Julia was struggling to survive in Luna, an ancient Redwood Tree, the loggers threatened to beat and rape her. They tried to starve her as well.

  There is a set of behaviors that belong to the same thread. Hatred, cruelty and abuse come in the same package as environmental destruction, but let’s build up our hope upon the behaviors and guidance of those who choose the path of love, education and solidarity.

   Julia Butterfly Hill’s book reminds us that there is power in us and we need to use it: “It is our responsibility to stand up for the life we recklessly squandered. So I’ll continue to hold the light strong even in the midst of total darkness. I will continue to believe that love is the answer; love is the power; love is the truth.”

 

 

How did Julia survive living in a tree for two years?

When the word resilience comes to my mind, I think of Julia Butterfly Hill surviving in Luna. I think about what kept her up there, sustaining her life amid the harshest conditions.

  There is a kind of harmony and balance in her communion with the ancient tree. Even her hands and feet changed to adapt to her life there. The muscles of her hands and feet became strong and flexible to ascend the tree and move from one branch to the other. She acquired a special knowledge on how to do it with care and precision. She was even able to reach the top of the tree.

 Her bravery helped to spark the inspiration to save the forests. It is still painful to read about the destruction around her. The act revealed a total disregard and ignorance of the impact it caused. The clear cutting of the forest had devastating consequences. There were some animals she stopped seeing because of that, such as the marbled murrelets and spotted owls.

 

 

 

The Web of Life

  Julia was not alone in her endeavor to stay up in the tree. Other activists sat in the tree for a few days at the beginning of the fight, but she was the one who refused to leave in the winter. Therefore, she ended up staying for two years. However, her determination would not have been enough. There was a team supporting her survival while she lived in Luna.

  Julia put her life on the frontline to awaken people to the truth. In doing so, she confronted all kinds of abusive behaviors from the logging company. She also had to deal with extreme cold, intense winds, and frostbite. She endured severe thunderstorms, hail and sleet.

   Julia had to face the threats of the abusers, but she knew that her purpose was bigger than herself, and the wisdom of following the love of Creation guided her through the doubts, fears and uncertainty.

 “The more we stand up and demand change, the more things will improve. I ask myself sometimes whether the destruction has gone too far, whether we can really do anything to save our forests and our planet. And yet I know that I can’t give up. We must do the right thing because it is the right thing. I have to take it one struggle at a time. And just as I’ve done with Luna when the struggle comes my way, I’ve got to fight it for all I’m worth. Yes, one person can make a difference. Each one of us does.”

  My question is this: how do we help change things when fascism takes over a nation?  The people who agreed to vote for a dictator do not seem to understand that their own cruelty is coming back to bite them. They believe that scapegoating the most vulnerable people of their communities is the solution to their insecurities and economic failures. The opposite is true. Nazi Germany did not end up getting rich under Hitler’s “leadership”. Italy did not do well under Mussolini’s dictatorship either. Supporters of abusers suffer the consequences of their own cruelty.

  This is the simple truth: nobody can get away from the effects of hurting others, because we are all interconnected in the web of life. Julia could perceive this truth while she lived in Luna: “I learned first-hand how everything that we can—or cannot—see is interconnected like strands in this web of life, from the microorganisms in the soil helping feed nutrients to Luna, to the stars that are billions of light-years away, and everything in-between. Living the way I live, I’ve learned how each thread reached back to us.”

  

   When the abusers threatened and bullied Julia, she stayed strong in the solid foundation of her purpose. That is the precious fortress that they could not touch:

 “I do not want to come down to a world where clear-cuts are allowed, where herbicides are dumped on forests and people, where logging continues on unstable slopes, where old-growth forests are destroyed. Why should I come down to a world like that?”

 

 

    The need to act now. How do we do it when there is so much under attack?

  The unrestrained spread of AI data centers is worsening the climate crisis. It raises gas and electricity costs. It makes your water bill more expensive while increasing climate emissions. It causes noise and light pollution that impact human health and threaten wildlife. It pollutes the water and the air, and now the Trump administration is using AI as an excuse to boost 19^th century fossil fuels. It is keeping coal plants running, fast-tracking expensive methane gas plants and gutting health and environmental laws. The Trump administration is weakening environmental regulations and limiting your rights to have a say in what is being built in your community. You can sign this petition to speak up against this:

 https://earthjustice.org/action/ai-data-centers-are-trying-to-avoid-accountability?ms=web

If you don’t understand the need to act now, let me explain it further. By gutting the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, the Trump administration is doing the following:

1)     It is allowing the construction to proceed before obtaining air permits

2)     It is ordering the AI data centers to run their dirty generators more frequently

3)     It is letting certain power plants not install any pollution controls for acid rain

 

 Exposing the lies of the so-called MAHA movement

The Trump administration promised to make America healthy again. (My Writing Life warned that there was no evidence to believe his empty promises before the November 2024 election).  The EPA under Trump has now approved fluoxipiprolin, epyrifenacil, trifludimoxazin and expanded the use of chlormequat chloride, even though evidence links these chemicals to cancer, endocrine disruption and serious risks to pollinators, wildlife and endangered species. For example, floxipiprolin and epyrifenacil produced tumors in laboratory animals, but the EPA declared both “not likely” to cause cancer.

Trump passed executive orders to protect and promote the massive use of glyphosate despite the well-known health risks to our communities. Glyphosate also affects the uptake of nutrients and minerals in plants.

 To learn more about what the Trump administration is doing with pesticides and herbicides, you can visit the site of the Center for Food Safety and take action:

https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/take-action

 

 

 Relevant links:

  The assault on science and democracy and a call to action:

https://wigreenfire.org/science-knowledge-and-democracy-a-call-to-action-part-2/

 

AI data centers are taking away jobs, worsening the climate crisis, raising our utility bills and using up massive amounts of water. What are the consequences of this?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/13/lost-jobs-inequality-ai-oligarchs

 

“Drill baby drill” is a call to rape Mother Earth; it is a form of abuse:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/08/greenland-iwarning-trump-linked-oil-firm-prepares-drill

 

Why are Republicans in Congress voting to protect pedophiles?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83r7IdmQBmk

 

July was the hottest month in history the United States of America:

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/10/climate/hottest-month-record-july-noaa

 

 

 How is this acceptable in the eyes of his voters?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/13/trump-presidency-revenue-wealth

 

Some Trump supporters are awakening to the corruption they vote for:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65NODmQIQV0

 

 Trump and his officials are systematically attacking the laws that protect our national forests and public lands:

https://www.npca.org/resources/3971-the-dismantling-of-our-national-parks-and-public-lands

Next post in My Writing Life: Awareness, Reflection, Inspiration

I mentioned that I had the intention to read books by some of the writers included in the Italian anthology put together by Jhumpa Lahiri. I am now reading A Silence Shared by Lalla Romano. My next post will be about her book.

 

Thank you for your visit. If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it with your friends. 

Till next time.

 

In The Midst Of Winter by Isabel Allende

 

   If you are seeking for a thriller, mystery, and historical fiction novel in just one book, this may be the right choice for you. To enhance the effect, add a touch of savory romance into the enticing mixture and you are off on a spellbinding adventure. This one turned out to be another fortunate discovery in a free little library I like to check from time to time…

 The word “genius” comes to my mind as I think about what this thought-provoking novel encompasses.  Even though I have some serious complaints about it, they do not detract from the genius of this novel. Yet I will delve into my criticism later in this post.

  Lucia Maraz is a Chilean woman who wanted to add excitement to her life. She is 62 years old and does not want to grow old in a boring place in Chile, so what did she do? She accepted a position at a university in New York, where she would only be allowed to work for one year. Once the position comes to an end, she has no idea what she will do. An acquaintance of hers called Richard Bowmaster is the professor who invited her to accept this position.

   Lucia also becomes Richard Bowmaster’s tenant, so when a severe snowstorm hits New York in 2015, Lucia is secluded in the basement apartment under his home. I appreciate the description of the dull place made cozy by the company of an adorable chihuahua—Marcelo-- who soothes her and lessens the effects of her solitary days.

   Richard Bowmaster is only one year younger than Lucia. He has a complicated life story with a history of past tragedies and serious mistakes. However, he manages to control his anxiety and relies on the presence of his four cats for company. 

 

     Richard counts on them to chase mice, but in reality, he loves those cats more than he cares to admit. Then there is Evelyn Ortega, an undocumented young refugee from Guatemala who migrated to the United States under the most dangerous conditions after gangs threatened her life. These gangs had already slaughtered her two brothers.

     When Richard bumps into the car Evelyn is driving on his way back from the vet, he apologizes and gives her a card with his contact details. It was a minor accident, but the incident sets the conditions for the novel to unfold. It was a dark, cold night in the aftermath of a severe snowstorm.

    After parting ways, Evelyn appears at his doorstep later that night, and Richard calls Lucia to help him communicate with Evelyn. The situation gets even more stressful when Evelyn reports that she has found a dead body in the trunk of the car she has been driving. The car belongs to the family she works for as an undocumented immigrant. It would be too risky for Evelyn to report this incident due to her undocumented status. They know that she would be blamed for the crime, so the three of them embark on a road trip to safely get rid of the body. The strange situation poses several questions: Who is the dead person? Who killed the person? How is the crime related to the family who hires Evelyn?

 

  Isabel Allende packs a lot in this novel. I appreciate the depth of her narrative and the social and historical contexts associated with the complicated life stories of the characters. I can tell that Isabel Allende feels empathy for the characters despite their flaws and blunders. Their chaotic experiences awaken the reader’s interest and spark intrigue.

 Why do I love this novel?

 In The Midst of Winter is gripping and thought-provoking. The author's exquisite literary skills add a special feature to her work.

  I enjoy following the adventure of these three characters. There is an impending sense of danger, but there is also a thread of hope running through it.  As we get to know these complex characters, we become aware of how they have managed to survive tragic past experiences.

  The social, historical and cultural aspects of the novel create an immersive experience for the reader. During their escapade, complications and challenges arise. As these three characters share their life stories, their sense of companionship grows into a kind of friendship that transcends the gaps of cultures and perspectives.  In that intimate space of connection, they empathize with one another and find common ground. Love, grief and despair unite them in warm conversations in the midst of winter…

       The experience of being in exile

 Lucia Maraz had lost her brother in the 1970s, during the fascist dictatorship of Pinochet in Chile. After her brother’s disappearance, she went into exile and settled in Canada to protect her own life, because she had received threats. Around 37,000 people were imprisoned and/or tortured during Pinochet’s fascist dictatorship; 3,700 people disappeared during that same period.

  When Lucia went back to Chile with the return of democracy in 1990, she felt like an outsider in her home country. Everything had changed. Her experience was made worse by the ways she was judged by the people of her own country. She felt like a misfit. Leftists accused her of being a “coward” for having left the country while right wing people accused her of being a “communist”. 

  “She realized she was a foreigner in her own land, disconnected from the network of social relationships without which almost nothing was possible, lost in what remained of a past that did not fit into the bustling present-day Chile. She did not understand the keys or codes: even the sense of humor had changed, and the language was peppered with euphemisms and caution, because there was the aftertaste of the censorship of the tough times. No one asked her about the years she had been away, no one wanted to know where she had been or what her life had been like.”

   During her years of exile in Canada, the epistolary communication with her mother strengthened their bond. They had exchanged several letters. Even before receiving an answer, they would both write another letter to each other… Their letters were like life journals. This avid exchange had probably nourished their relationship and had helped Lucia to understand herself better…

 

The power of Isabel Allende’s writing

  The intimate perceptions and experiences of the characters make the writing powerful. Isabel Allende exposes complex realities with insight, clarity and knowledge. I will be reading more of her books.

 

 Social and political contexts that boost my interest in her writing

   I appreciate how the author digs into topics that help to understand the social and political context. She somehow finds the circumstances to do so.

  As a professor, Lucia gave a conference about the fascist dictatorship in Chile. I was not so astonished when somebody in the audience pointed out that Pinochet’s economy had been successful. Isabel Allende exposes the propaganda machine that led to such false beliefs. Lucia revealed that it is not true that the dictatorship was beneficial for the economy. It may have been of benefit to the wealthy, but poverty and unemployment increased significantly in Chile as a result of it.

 

 

          Criticism/complaints

1)        The author explains that Lucia Maraz “feels complete by herself” in the basement apartment under Richard’s home, but on the next line she reveals that Lucia did consider a dating app to meet somebody and quickly changed her mind because she did not want her daughter to find out. Also, she has a secret desire for Richard, so this sets the stage for a confusing ambiguity. Did she travel to New York to seek new job opportunities or is she interested in Richard? It could be both, but what bothers me is this trend to view women as potential romantic partners instead of viewing them as independent individuals with intellectual interests and personal aspirations. It also feeds the prejudice that women are irrational and cannot be happy by themselves. I did not like this at all. On the other hand, Richard is happily engaged in intellectual pursuits, surrounded by books, while Lucia is thinking about Richard all the time. It is a bit stupid to portray women in this light. 

       Lucia longs to have a meaningful relationship with him or with a suitable partner. Again, why can’t a woman be okay without any romantic interests? This prejudice is very damaging to women in society as this can lead to the idea that everything is done with some kind of sexual/romantic interest while men are free to pursue their passions and interests without being judged, scrutinized or bothered.

2)     Why did they give “weed cookies” to Evelyn? That was unnecessary and inappropriate. It did not add anything to the story line. Evelyn is in a vulnerable situation and there is no reason to give her “weed cookies”. What is the point of that? I just don’t get it.

3)    When Lucia was 36 years old, she met a man who was researching the disappearances of people during the dictatorship. Lucia was writing a book about the topic, so she reached out to him. When she met him in person, she thought “he was the most athletic man she had ever met in her life.” She fell in love with the guy.  They had unprotected sex on the first day they met. Really? Are we supposed to believe than an educated woman would do this? This absurd, unrealistic situation does a good job of feeding the prejudice that Latina women are hypersexual and willing to embark on risky, thoughtless behaviors. I was very disappointed to read this. It may help the author to sell books. It feeds negative prejudices about Latina women and can lead to irrational excuses to treat Latina women with disrespect, to slander them easily. You can also read my post about this topic here.

4)    There are a couple of lines about bats that promote negative propaganda against bats. Isabel Allende: do your research. I had my own prejudices against bats in the past but then I educated myself and learned something new.

 

  Conclusion

  Despite the serious complaints I expressed about the novel, I consider In the Midst of Winter a remarkable masterpiece. The characters are well developed and complex. I enjoyed the twists and turns, the vivid settings, the emotional experience and the thought-provoking nature of the narrative, which integrates historical and cultural aspects seamlessly. The author weaves into the mystery several topics of relevance, and I love that the ending is hopeful. I look forward to reading more works by this author.

 

Relevant links:

 

  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/30/ice-detention-center-camp

You can learn more about fascism by visiting this link:

 https://www.keene.edu/academics/cchgs/resources/presentation-materials/characteristics-and-appeal-of-fascism/download/

 

 

If you enjoyed this post, you can read my writing on the following book:

 

The Japanese Lover by Isabell Allende

I want to recommend this independent journalist in case you have not come across her work. Her name is Katie Phang. I am sharing her reporting here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXL1e1vPn0M

The Humane Gardener by Nancy Lawson

 

   When I was a child, I marveled at the hundreds of fireflies that lit up our backyard every summer. Today I continue to be mesmerized by their lights on summer nights, but there are less of them, and they are at risk of extinction.

   If you want to make sure your children and grandchildren have the privilege to watch these stars on earth there is a lot you can do. It costs no money, but it does require common sense and empathy: leave the leaves on the ground. There are no excuses to kill their babies. When people rake leaves to throw them away, they condemn their babies to death. The use of leaf blowers also leaves a trail of devastation, disrupting the habitats of bees, moths, butterflies, birds and small mammals.

       Everything is interconnected in multiple ways. When we allow the leaves to stay on the ground--where they belong—they get decomposed and provide crucial nutrition for the trees. The leaves on the ground are also the natural shelter of various living beings that are a source of food for the birds. Why would anybody choose to starve the birds or to poison them? It takes common sense to leave them in peace. Again, it does not cost money but it does require empathetic attitudes.

    To support birds and the ecosystems in which they thrive, it is also important to avoid spraying pesticides and herbicides. By avoiding these toxic chemicals, you will also decrease the risk of making your pets and your children sick with cancer, and you will ensure that birds have a variety of safe food sources. Last, but not least, make choices that help to address climate change because global warming is also killing fireflies. Avoid light pollution. I wrote about light pollution here, so make sure you read it and share it. Turn off outdoor lights. You will save money and save the lives of fireflies and other living beings.

  I appreciate how this book dispels myths and falsehoods that mislead people and make them behave in cruel ways toward wildlife. It provides practical ideas and suggestions to coexist in harmony with wildlife while supporting the healthy growth of your garden and protecting the quality of the water, air and soil. The book contains photos that enhance the reading experience. It makes a good gift for your loved ones...

  

 

Opossums

Opossums are not aggressive. They have no way to fight back when challenged. All they do is drool, hiss and sway. Yet they are one of the most abused mammals by human beings. Opossums are intentionally run over, set on fire and doused in insecticides.

Did you know that opossums eat the annoying ticks that cause Lyme’s disease?

 

 Opossums, skunks and many other misunderstood animals can be beneficial in the garden. Irrespective of the fact that they are beneficial, the humane thing to do is to let them live their lives and to respect them. It is not my intention to be preachy here, but I think we should state the obvious sometimes. Why do human beings think they have a right to be cruel to others?

 

Compassionate ways of deterring wildlife

Lavender keeps deer from devouring carrots and beets. Anisse hyssop can protect tomatoes from grazing mammals. Spraying cayenne pepper deters ants and squirrels.

 Avoid the purchase of commercial repellents that may be marked as “humane” but are obtained by abusing animals. For example, predator urine sold as a natural way to scare off wild visitors is collected from coyotes, foxes and other animals raised in wire cages on fur farms. Avoid purchasing these products if you don’t want to be complicit in this abuse.

 The information in this book encourages the reader to make decisions that are rewarding not only to the gardeners but also to wildlife.

  It also shares the experiences and stories of different people who changed their ways of gardening to support nature around them. Manicured gardens loaded with pesticides and herbicides are gardens of death. Learn how you can change your garden into one of life, kindness and compassion.

 

 

Observations and reflections

  With the heatwave we’ve had to endure, the grass in the backyards of people who wasted money on chemicals became yellow.  Our grass, on the other hand, is still vibrant due to its diversity. Diversity engenders resilience. The clover thrives and helps to feed the bunnies. Clover helps to fertilize the soil in natural ways without polluting the water, the air and the soil. What is not to like about this? With the richness of our grass, the birds find an important source of food: a variety of seeds and insects they do not find in the manicured gardens of death. Furthermore, our grass looks healthier than the grass in backyards with pesticides and herbicides.

 

The charm of a humane garden

  A garden can be an oasis of hope and empathy. It may not be the solution to all the problems, but it can be part of the solution; it may create a gentle path to a more compassionate world.  It may become the home of species that are endangered... have you thought about that? 

 

  

Conclusion

  The Humane Gardener offers invaluable information, suggestions and ideas to support the web of life around us. It reminds us that we share the Earth with other living beings. On ethical terms this means that our actions matter. We are accountable for our actions toward the living beings around us. When we make choices that support the health of the environment and other living beings, we are supporting our own health. What is not to like about this? Every choice, action and vote can make a difference, so educate yourself and others and let’s create a more compassionate world together.

 You can learn more about the author and the topic by checking this site.

 If you enjoyed this post, you can also check my writing on the following books:

The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl

 

The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer

 

The Ocean’s Menagerie by Drew Harvell

 

 

 

Relevant links:

 Research has shown that exposure to glyphosate in children is linked to the development of various diseases in young adulthood, including cancer:

https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2023/study-finds-childhood-exposure-weed-killer-may-increase-risk-disease-young-adulthood

The importance of planting trees:

 https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2026/07/kids-plant-trees-change-neighborhoods/

   

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jul/23/space-datacenters-bezos-blue-origin

 

https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20260717-border-barrier-project-sparks-environmental-concerns-texas-national-park

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/24/trump-canada-wildfires-smoke-scientists

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/26/french-beekeepers-fury-lifting-of-pesticides-ban