Del Valle Family Series

Recommended Reading Order

1. Daughter of Fortune

   • Isabel Allende

   • 416 pages
   • 15 hours of reading

   Orphaned at birth, Eliza Sommers is raised in the British colony of Valparaíso, Chile, by the well-meaning Miss Rose and her strict brother Jeremy. She falls in love with Joaquín Andieta, a lowly clerk, just as gold is discovered in northern California. In 1849, driven by dreams of wealth, Joaquín heads to San Francisco, and Eliza, pregnant with his child, decides to follow him. This sets off her perilous journey to the rough world of San Francisco, where the newly arrived inhabitants are consumed by gold fever. Among a society of single men and prostitutes, Eliza finds support from her friend, the Chinese doctor Tao Chien. California presents her with opportunities for freedom and independence, transforming her search for Joaquín into a quest for personal liberation. As Eliza's journey unfolds, she must ultimately determine who her true love is. This narrative offers a sweeping portrait of an era, rich in character, history, violence, and compassion. Eliza emerges as an adventurous and unconventional heroine, embodying the courage to reinvent herself and forge her own destiny in a new land. The story showcases Isabel Allende's remarkable storytelling ability and solidifies her status as a leading writer.

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2. Portrait in Sepia

   • Isabel Allende

   As a young girl, Aurora del Valle suffered a brutal trauma that has shaped her character and erased from her mind all recollection of the first five years of her life. When she finds herself alone at the end of an unhappy love affair, she decides to explore the mystery of her past.

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3. The house of the spirits

   • Isabel Allende

   • 433 pages
   • 16 hours of reading

   Here, in an astonishing debut by a gifted storyteller, is the magnificent saga of proud and passionate men and women and the turbulent times through which they suffer and triumph. They are the Truebas. And theirs is a world you will not want to leave, and one you will not forget. Esteban -- The patriarch, a volatile and proud man whose lust for land is legendary and who is haunted by his tyrannical passion for the wife he can never completely possess. Clara -- The matriarch, elusive and mysterious, who foretells family tragedy and shapes the fortunes of the house of the Truebas. Blanca -- Their daughter, soft-spoken yet rebellious, whose shocking love for the son of her father's foreman fuels Esteban's everlasting contempt... even as it produces the grandchild he adores. Alba -- The fruit of Blanca's forbidden love, a luminous bearty, a fiery and willful woman... the family's break with the past and link to the future.

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