Isabel Allende
The Japanese Lover

The Japanese Lover

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From the publisher: "In 1939, as Poland falls under the shadow of the Nazis, young Alma Belasco’s parents send her away to live in safety with an aunt and uncle in their opulent mansion in San Francisco. There, as the rest of the world goes to war, she encounters Ichimei Fukuda, the quiet and gentle son of the family’s Japanese gardener. Unnoticed by those around them, a tender love affair begins to blossom. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the two are cruelly pulled apart as Ichimei and his family—like thousands of other Japanese Americans—are declared enemies and forcibly relocated to internment camps run by the United States government. Throughout their lifetimes, Alma and Ichimei reunite again and again, but theirs is a love that they are forever forced to hide from the world. Sweeping through time and spanning generations and continents, The Japanese Lover is a moving tribute to the constancy of the human heart in a world of unceasing change."

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Violeta

Violeta

Allende is prolific: her earliest works might be considered modern classics, yet her recent releases feel fresh. This sweeping epic begins on a stormy day in 1920. The titular heroine is born in the midst of the Spanish Flu—and tumultuous times have just begun for her family. Told in epistolary form, this novel almost reads like a juicy autobiography, following Violeta’s love affairs, heartbreaks, and responses to historical events. If you’ve never read any Allende, you can absolutely start here, then work your way back to see how she’s influenced the historical fiction genre.

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The Wind Knows My Name

The Wind Knows My Name

Translated from the Spanish by Frances Riddle. Allende’s new novel—her 27th(!!)—begins in Vienna on Kristallnacht, 1938. Following this night of antisemitic terror, a Jewish mother puts her five-year-old son on a rescue train bound for England. She will never see him again. A parallel narrative begins in 2019 in El Salvador, where a mother flees for her life with her 7-year-old daughter, only for mother and child to be separated at the U.S. border. In unexpectedly long chapters, Allende slowly weaves these stories together like a fine tapestry. I expect this novel will be criticized for being heavy-handed, but I couldn’t wait to discover what would happen next, and found the tidy ending immensely satisfying. For fans of Allende’s A Long Petal of the Sea and Patricia Engel’s Infinite Country.

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Island Beneath the Sea

Island Beneath the Sea

Allende writes sweeping novels with magical realism. This historical novel is set in Haiti.

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Paula

Paula

$11.14$1.99
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From the publisher: "Allende has written a powerful autobiography whose straightforward acceptance of the magical and spiritual worlds will remind readers of her first book, The House of the Spirits."

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Ripper

Ripper

$11.88$1.99
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From the publisher: an "atmospheric, fast-paced mystery involving a brilliant teenage sleuth who must unmask a serial killer in San Francisco." Add Audible narration for $12.99.

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The House of Spirits

The House of Spirits

From the publisher: "One of the most important novels of the twentieth century, The House of the Spirits is an enthralling epic that spans decades and lives, weaving the personal and the political into a universal story of love, magic, and fate."

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Daughter of Fortune

Daughter of Fortune

This sweeping family saga is set in Chile, China, and California. When Eliza Sommers' lover disappears during the Gold Rush, she leaves Chile to search for him. But things turn as she unexpectedly stumbles upon a life and love she never expected. I had to look up if Allende originally wrote this 1998 novel in Spanish and ... yep. The translation by Margaret Sayers Peden feels seamless.

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In the Midst of Winter

In the Midst of Winter

In Allende's new release, a traffic accident caused by a horrible Brooklyn snowstorm gets the ball rolling, bringing three very different people together to carry out a common mission. As they travel together through the frozen landscape, each character's story is revealed, as Allende takes us from present day New York City to recent events in Guatemala to forty years ago in Chile and Brazil. Not my favorite Allende, but she sure makes you want to know what happens next.

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Eva Luna

Eva Luna

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Allende is a prolific author and there are many that think ​Eva Luna​ is her best work. From the publisher: "Eva Luna is the daughter of a professor's assistant and a snake-bitten gardener—born poor, orphaned at an early age, and working as a servant. Eva is a naturally gifted and imaginative storyteller who meets people from all stations and walks of life. Though she has no wealth, she trades her stories like currency with people who are kind to her. In this novel, she shares the story of her own life and introduces readers to a diverse and eccentric cast of characters including the Lebanese émigré who befriends her and takes her in; her unfortunate godmother, whose brain is addled by rum and who believes in all the Catholic saints and a few of her own invention; a street urchin who grows into a petty criminal and, later, a leader in the guerrilla struggle; a celebrated transsexual entertainer who instructs her in the ways of the adult world; and a young refugee whose flight from postwar Europe will prove crucial to Eva's fate. As Eva tells her story, Isabel Allende conjures up a whole complex South American nation—the rich, the poor, the simple, and the sophisticated—in a novel replete with character and incident, with drama and comedy and history, with battles and passions, rebellions and reunions, a novel that celebrates the power of imagination to create a better world."

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