A Long Petal of the Sea: A Novel

· Sold by Ballantine Books
4.3
7 reviews
Ebook
336
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

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

Ratings and reviews

4.3
7 reviews
Toby A. Smith
February 17, 2020
This is a multi-generational family saga that begins in the late 1930s with the Spanish Civil War, moves to France, then on to Chile, Venezuela, and back to Chile. As the novel begins, teenage Roser Bruguera is a poor Spanish farm girl with an uncanny gift for music. Moving into the home of a prominent music teacher to study, she promptly falls in love with the professor's younger son, Guillem. Enter General Francisco Franco and the Fascists who oust the left-leaning Republican government in Spain after three years of bloody war. Tens of thousands of refugees flee Spain for France, among them a pregnant Roser, aided by the professor's older son, Victor, a physician. France, however, about to plunge into World War II, doesn't want refugees and immediately confines them to ill-equipped concentration camps. Recognizing the urgent need to get out of Europe, Victor and Roser find themselves in the orbit of Spanish Poet Pablo Neruda, who happens to be shepherding some two thousand refugees to Chile on the S. S. Winnipeg (true story). I won't include more details about how the lives of Roser and Victor unfold over the next 50 years. It's a story that explores the nature of love and and complexity of family loyalty. About class inequality, politics, and the successive turnover of governments in Chile during the 1970s and 1980s. And the consequences to apolitical people, who simply want to live their lives. I have read all of Isabel Allende's novels -- in part because of the beautiful way she uses language. I was not, however, struck by that in reading this novel. Though this may be the result of different translator. Because this narration struck me as much more straightforward, less crafted.
8 people found this review helpful
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Antonio Miguel
June 8, 2023
Good
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About the author

Born in Peru and raised in Chile, Isabel Allende is the author of a number of bestselling and critically acclaimed books, including The House of the Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, Eva Luna, Paula, and In the Midst of Winter. Her books have been translated into more than forty-two languages and have sold more than seventy-four million copies worldwide. She lives in California.

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