The author of numerous bestselling and critically acclaimed novels, Isabel Allende is a master of her craft, bringing to life not only remarkable characters but also painting vivid imagery of South American countries and communities. While we await her newest novel, we’re reading some of the books that defined her as one of the world’s most talented writers. Spanning from World War II to present day, the United States to Chile, these stories showcase her incredible range and skill.
6 Essential Isabel Allende Books to Devour
The House of the Spirits
This unforgettable novel that established Isabel Allende as one of the world’s most gifted storytellers brings to life the triumphs and tragedies of three generations of the Trueba family. 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.
The House of the Spirits
“It was an enormous pleasure for me to reread this book three decades after it first made its mark on me. I found myself still enraptured by the words of these women, still dazzled by the magic potion that is Isabel Allende’s gift for storytelling. And as I reached the final page, I smiled in wonderment at the forces that led me to where I am today, and was thankful for the reminder that our future is written in the stars.”
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Of Love and Shadows
This profoundly moving tale of love, bravery, and tragedy by New York Times bestselling author Isabel Allende brings to life a country ruled with an iron fist—and the men and women who dare to challenge it.When an assignment leads two journalists to uncover an unspeakable crime, they are determined to reveal the truth in a nation overrun by terror and violence. Together, they will risk everything for justice—and, ultimately, to embrace the passion that binds them.
Of Love and Shadows
For fans of “Jane the Virgin”
With love triangles, crime lords, and baby mama drama, “Jane the Virgin” is a fount of jaw-dropping twists and turns—and Isabel Allende’s OF LOVE AND SHADOWS is the perfect companion read. Irene, a journalist, and her partner, Francisco, are an unshakeable team on the brink of uncovering an unspeakable crime—and they will risk everything for justice and, ultimately, embrace the passion that binds them.
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The Stories of Eva Luna
An intoxicating collection of short fiction by one of the most beloved writers of our time.Eva Luna is a young woman whose powers as a storyteller bring her friendship and love. Lying in bed with her European lover, refugee and journalist Rolf Carlé, Eva answers his request for a story “you have never told anyone before” with these twenty-three samples of her vibrant artistry. Interweaving the real and the magical, she explores love, vengeance, compassion, and the strengths of women, creating a world that is at once poignantly familiar and intriguingly new.
The Stories of Eva Luna
Isabel Allende returns to the character of Eva Luna in this collection of brilliantly crafted stories. Beginning with the request to tell a story “you have never told anyone before,” these twenty-three tales of love, vengeance, compassion, and the strengths of women create a world that is at once poignantly familiar and intriguingly new.
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Eva Luna
MeetIsabel Allende’s most enchanting creation, Eva Luna: a lover, a writer, a revolutionary, and above all a storyteller.As Eva tells her story, Isabel Allende conjures up a whole complex South American nation 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.
Eva Luna
Conceived in an embrace designed to comfort a dying man, born to a servant and raised as a hired hand, Eva Luna learns quickly that she has a talent that belies her humble start: the gift of storytelling. As the years pass and her imprudent nature sends Eva from household to household—from the home of a doctor famed for mummifying the dead to a colorful whorehouse and the care of a beautiful transsexual—it is Eva’s magical imagination that keeps her alive and fuels her ardent encounters with lovers of all kinds. And as her South American homeland teeters on the brink of political chaos, and Eva’s fate is intertwined with guerrilla fighters and revolutionaries, she will find her life’s calling—and the soul mate who will envelop her in a love entirely beyond her mystical inventions.
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The Japanese Lover
A love story and multigenerational epic that stretches from San Francisco in the present-day to Poland and the United States during World War II.Sweeping through time and spanning generations and continents, The Japanese Lover is written with Isabel Allende’s same keen understanding of her characters and is a moving tribute to the constancy of the human heart in a world of unceasing change.
The Japanese Lover
Isabel Allende’s latest novel spans from Poland in the 1930s to present-day San Francisco. This sweeping love story explores questions of identity, abandonment, redemption, and the unknowable impact of fate on our lives.
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In the Midst of Winter
An instant New York Times bestseller, that journeys from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil, In the Midst of Winter is about three very different people who are brought together in a mesmerizing story that offers “a timely message about immigration and the meaning of home” (People).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.
In the Midst of Winter
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