Regarded by some critics as the world’s greatest storyteller, Allende does not disappoint in this sprawling novel covering the recollections of one woman’s 100 years.
Violeta, born one stormy night in 1920 as her unnamed South American country battled the great pandemic known as the Spanish flu, was the first daughter for her parents after five boys. From that unnamed country … probably Chile … to the USA and Norway, the story covers the next century for that family, centred on the life of Violeta.
The description of her businessman father’s preparations for the 1920 pandemic rings eerily familiar as he bought large amounts of supplies to last the winter; sent four sons south to work in the family logging business; ordered his wife and her two unmarried sisters who lived with the family to stay indoors; and had two large employees man the property entrance, dissuading looters. With the 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression, he lost everything, his family went into exile in a rural area and a new era started for them.
Violeta’s Irish-born governess, Miss Taylor, is a constant character in the story, along with the family’s eldest brother, and well-loved servants. Included in her 100 years of memories are Violeta’s disastrous first marriage, her deeply sensual relationship with a charming scoundrel pilot who fathered her two children, and then the peace and fulfillment of a second marriage.
The story charts the political upheavals in her country, the agony of the ‘disappeared’ opponents of the government, women’s rights, lesbianism, drug smuggling and addiction, and the lives of Violeta’s two children.
Some of the most moving writing comes as Violeta enters old age. Her business success allowed her to fund a foundation helping the victims of domestic violence; and as she prepares for death in 2020, it is during the second pandemic of her long life.
Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Isabel Allende – novelist, feminist, and philanthropist – is one of the most widely-read authors in the world, having sold more than 77 million books.
Chilean born in Peru, Isabel won worldwide acclaim in 1982 with the publication of her first novel, The House of the Spirits, which began as a letter to her dying grandfather. Since then, she has authored more than 26 bestselling and critically acclaimed books, including Daughter of Fortune, Island Beneath the Sea, Paula, The Japanese Lover, A Long Petal of the Sea and her memoir, The Soul of a Woman.
Translated into more than 42 languages, Allende’s works entertain and educate readers by interweaving imaginative stories with significant historical events.
In addition to her work as a writer, Allende devotes much of her time to human rights causes. In 1996, following the death of her daughter Paula, she established a charitable foundation in her honor, which has awarded grants to more than 100 nonprofits worldwide, delivering life-changing care to hundreds of thousands of women and girls. More than 8 million have watched her TED Talks on leading a passionate life.
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