a long petal of the sea by isabel allende

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.Ī 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. Through it all, their hope of returning to Spain keeps them going. We follow the Dalmau family’s escape from Spain at the dawn of the Civil War to their journey to Chile aboard Pablo Neruda’s fabled Winnipeg. But they will also find joy as they patiently await the day when they will be exiles no more. Isabel Allende evokes these myths throughout her newest novel, A Long Petal of the Sea, which recounts the true story of the Dalmau family across the 20th century. Starting over on a new continent, their trials are just beginning, and over the course of their lives, they will face trial after trial. Together with two thousand other refugees, they 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, they embrace exile as the rest of Europe erupts in world war. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires. The world’s most popular living author in Spanish on not fearing death and the forgotten event behind her new novel Your new novel, A Long Petal of the Sea, centers on a historical event: in. 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.Īmong 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 the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain.

Allende's 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.

A long petal of the sea by isabel allende