Most Popular Books by Isabel Allende

Chilean writer Isabel Allende’s classic novel is both a richly symbolic family saga and the riveting story of an unnamed Latin American country’s turbulent history. In a triumph of magic realism, Allende constructs a spirit-ridden world and fills it with colorful and all-too-human inhabitants. The Trueba family’s passions, struggles, and secrets span three generations and a century of violent social change, culminating in a crisis that brings the proud and tyrannical patriarch and his beloved granddaughter to opposite sides of the barricades. Against a backdrop of revolution and counterrevolution, Allende brings to life a family whose private bonds of love and hatred are more complex and enduring than the political allegiances that set them at odds. The House of the Spirits not only brings another nation’s history thrillingly to life, but also makes its people’s joys and anguishes wholly our own.

A child of two worlds -- the son of an aristocratic Spanish military man turned landowner and a Shoshone warrior woman -- young Diego de la Vega cannot silently bear the brutal injustices visited upon the helpless in late-eighteenth-century California. And so a great hero is born -- skilled in athleticism and dazzling swordplay, his persona formed between the Old World and the New -- the legend known as Zorro.

Las aventuras picarescas de una Sherezade latinoamericana, relatando su nacimiento ilegÍtimo, su orfandad, su adolescencia sin rumbo, sus actividades contra el gobierno, y su romance con un problemÁtico director de pelÍculas documentales. Por medio de su don narrativo, Eva Luna inventa una realidad personal determinada por la magia y el destino.

New York Times and worldwide bestselling author Isabel Allende returns with a sweeping novel that journeys from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil that offers “a timely message about immigration and the meaning of home” (People). During the biggest Brooklyn snowstorm in living memory, Richard Bowmaster, a lonely university professor in his sixties, hits the car of Evelyn Ortega, a young undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, and what at first seems an inconvenience takes a more serious turn when Evelyn comes to his house, seeking help. At a loss, the professor asks his tenant, Lucia Maraz, a fellow academic from Chile, for her advice. As these three lives intertwine, each will discover truths about how they have been shaped by the tragedies they witnessed, and Richard and Lucia will find unexpected, long overdue love. Allende returns here to themes that have propelled some of her finest work: political injustice, the art of survival, and the essential nature of—and our need for—love.

Narrated with warmth, humor, exceptional candor and wisdom, The Sum of Our Days is a portrait of a contemporary family, tied together by the love, strong will, and stubborn determination of a beloved matriarch, the indomitable New York Times bestselling author of The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende. "An inspiring and thought-provoking work." –Denver Post Isabel Allende reconstructs the painful reality of her own life in the wake of the tragic death of her daughter, Paula. Narrated with warmth, humor, exceptional candor, and wisdom, this remarkable memoir is as exuberant and as full of life as its creator. Allende bares her soul while sharing her thoughts on love, marriage, motherhood, spirituality and religion, infidelity, addiction, and memory—and recounts stories of the wildly eccentric, strong-minded, and eclectic tribe she gathers around her and lovingly embraces as a new kind of family.

In The Infinite Plan, critically acclaimed, bestselling author Isabel Allende weaves a vivid and engrossing tale of one man''s search for love and his struggle to come to terms with a childhood of poverty and neglect. It is the story of Gregory Reeves and his hard journey from L.A.''s Hispanic barrio to the killing fields of Vietnam to the frenetic world of a San Francisco lawyer. Along the way, he loses himself in an illusory and wrongheaded quest, and only by circling back to his roots can he find what he is missing and what he wants more than anything in life.

Newly Reissued New York Times Bestselling Author “Beautiful and heartrending. . . . Memoir, autobiography, epicedium, perhaps even some fiction: they are all here, and they are all quite wonderful.” —Los Angeles Times When Isabel Allende’s daughter, Paula, became gravely ill and fell into a coma, the author began to write the story of her family for her unconscious child. In the telling, bizarre ancestors appear before our eyes; we hear both delightful and bitter childhood memories, amazing anecdotes of youthful years, the most intimate secrets passed along in whispers. With Paula, 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.

La azarosa historia de una esclava en el Santo Domingo del siglo XVIII que logrará zafarse de los estigmas que la sociedad le ha impuesto para conseguir la libertad y, con ella, la felicidad.--Desde la descripción de la editorial.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The House of the Spirits, Isabelle Allende, comes a passionate tale of one young woman''s quest to save her lover set against the chaos of the 1849 California Gold Rush. Orphaned at birth, Eliza Sommers is raised in the British colony of Valparaíso, Chile, by the well-intentioned Victorian spinster Miss Rose and her more rigid brother Jeremy. Just as she meets and falls in love with the wildly inappropriate Joaquín Andieta, a lowly clerk who works for Jeremy, gold is discovered in the hills of northern California. By 1849, Chileans of every stripe have fallen prey to feverish dreams of wealth. Joaquín takes off for San Francisco to seek his fortune, and Eliza, pregnant with his child, decides to follow him. As Eliza embarks on her perilous journey north in the hold of a ship and arrives in the rough-and-tumble world of San Francisco, she must navigate a society dominated by greedy men. But Eliza soon catches on with the help of her natural spirit and a good friend, the Chinese doctor Tao Chi’en. What began as a search for love ends up as the conquest of personal freedom. A marvel of storytelling, Daughter of Fortune confirms once again Isabel Allende''s extraordinary gift for fiction and her place as one of the world''s leading writers.

A search for the Beast within the heart of the Amazon becomes a quest for self-discovery in this coming-of-age story filled with international adventure, rich mythology, and magical realism from globally celebrated novelist Isabel Allende. Would you venture into the heart of the Amazon rainforests? When Alexander Cold has the chance to join his fearless journalist grandmother on an expedition to the dangerous, remote world of the Amazon, he’s not sure it’s the best idea. Especially when their mission from the International Geographic is to document the legendary Yeti of the Amazon known as the Beast. But under the dense canopy of the jungle, Alexander is amazed to discover much more than he ever could have imagined about the hidden worlds of the rainforest. Drawing on the strength of the jaguar, the totemic animal Alexander finds within himself, and the eagle, his new friend Nadia’s spirit guide, both young people are led by the invisible People of the Mist on a thrilling and unforgettable journey. What they discover just might change their world forever.

Completing the trilogy that includes her bestselling novels Daughter of Fortune and The House of the Spirits, Portrait in Sepia is a stunning novel about memory and family secrets Set at the end of the nineteenth century, Portrait in Sepia is a richly imagined historical novel featuring the colorful and intrepid del Valle family. The protagonist, Aurora del Valle, suffers a brutal trauma that shapes her character and erases from her mind all recollections of the first five years of her life. Raised by her ambitious grandmother, the regal and commanding Paulina del Valle, she grows up in a privileged environment, free of the limitations that circumscribe the lives of women at that time, but tormented by horrible nightmares. When she is forced to recognize her betrayal by the man she loves, and to cope with the resulting solitude, she decides to explore the mystery of her past.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of The House of the Spirits, this epic novel spanning decades and crossing continents follows two young people as they flee the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in search of a place to call home. “One of the most richly imagined portrayals of the Spanish Civil War to date, and one of the strongest and most affecting works in [Isabel Allende’s] long career.”—The New York Times Book Review NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Esquire • Good Housekeeping • Parade In the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires. Together with two thousand other refugees, Roser and Victor embark on the SS Winnipeg, a ship chartered by the poet Pablo Neruda, to Chile: “the long petal of sea and wine and snow.” As unlikely partners, the couple embraces exile as the rest of Europe erupts in world war. Starting over on a new continent, they face trial after trial, but they will also find joy as they patiently await the day when they might go home. Through it all, their hope of returning to Spain keeps them going. Destined to witness the battle between freedom and repression as it plays out across the world, Roser and Victor will find that home might have been closer than they thought all along. A masterful work of historical fiction about hope, exile, and belonging, A Long Petal of the Sea shows Isabel Allende at the height of her powers. Praise for A Long Petal of the Sea “Both an intimate look at the relationship between one man and one woman and an epic story of love, war, family, and the search for home, this gorgeous novel, like all the best novels, transports the reader to another time and place, and also sheds light on the way we live now.”—J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Saints for All Occasions “This is a novel not just for those of us who have been Allende fans for decades, but also for those who are brand-new to her work: What a joy it must be to come upon Allende for the first time. She knows that all stories are love stories, and the greatest love stories are told by time.”—Colum McCann, National Book Award–winning author of Let the Great World Spin

En la edición en español del tercer libro infantil de Isabel Allende, autora aclamada por la crítica mundialmente y bestseller del New York Times, Perla, la súper perrita, salva a su hermano humano, Nico Rico, y a su amiga, la Princesa, cuando los dos se meten en problemas. Perla es una súper perrita que tiene dos súper poderes: hacer que todos la amen y rugir como un león. Cuando su hermano humano, Nico Rico, se mete en problemas junto a una niña a la que él llama la Princesa, mientras el vecindario celebra el Cinco de Mayo, Perla sabe que le toca a ella salvarlos a los dos. Pero ¿cómo lo logrará? En esta historia encantadora y emocionante, Isabel Allende continúa su serie sobre el vínculo entre un niño y su querida mascota. In the Spanish edition of the third children’s book written by critically acclaimed, New York Times-bestselling superstar Isabel Allende, Perla, the mighty dog, saves her human brother, Nico Rico, and his friend, The Princess, when the two get into trouble. Perla is a mighty dog who has two superpowers—making anybody love her and roaring like a lion. When her human brother, Nico Rico, gets into trouble with a girl he refers to as “The Princess” while the neighborhood is out celebrating Cinco de Mayo, Perla knows it’s up to her to save them both. But how will she do it? In this charming and poignant story, Isabel Allende continues her series about the bond between a child and a beloved pet.

Desarrollada en un pafs latinamericano sin nombre que vive bajo el dominio de una dictadura militar, la segunda, hipnotizante, novela de Allende cuenta la historia de una mujer y un hombre que estßn destinados, bajo las circunstancias mßs espeluzantes, a compartir un amor excepcional. Irene Beltrßn es fruto de la clase alta, una bien intencionada, aunque algo ingenua, reportera en una revista para mujeres. Francisco Leal, hijo de exiliados espa±oles, es un fot=grafo partidario de la resistencia clandestina. Durante el curso de un trabajo rutinario, esta pareja descubre, literalmente, un crimen que resulta en desaffo---y provocaci=n---al terrorismo oficial del gobierno, y que tambiTn pone en grave peligro sus vidas.

Isabel Allende evokes the magnificent landscapes of her country; a charming, idiosyncratic Chilean people with a violent history and an indomitable spirit, and the politics, religion, myth, and magic of her homeland that she carries with her even today. The book circles around two life-changing moments. The assassination of her uncle Salvador Allende Gossens on September 11, 1973, sent her into exile and transformed her into a literary writer. And the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, on her adopted homeland, the United States, brought forth an overdue acknowledgment that Allende had indeed left home. My Invented Country, mimicking the workings of memory itself, ranges back and forth across that distance between past and present lives. It speaks compellingly to immigrants and to all of us who try to retain a coherent inner life in a world full of contradictions.

Completing the trilogy that includes her bestselling novels Daughter of Fortune (a February 2000 Oprah Pick) and The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende has written a richly imagined historical novel featuring the colorful and intrepid del Valle family. In Retrato en Sepia (Portrait in Sepia) Allende has written a richly imagined saga of the turbulent history, lives, and loves of late 19th century Chile."