Trilogía Involuntaria #1

Daughter of Fortune

isabel allende margaret sayers peden

Set in the mid-1800s, this novel follows the fortunes of Eliza Sommers, Chilean by birth but adopted by a British spinster, Rose Sommers, and her bachelor brother, Jeremy, after she is abandoned on their doorstep. As Eliza grows up, she becomes less tractable, and when she falls in love with Joachin Andieta, a clerk in Jeremy's firm, her adoptive family is horrified. They are even more so when a now-pregnant Eliza follows her lover to California where he has gone to make his fortune in the 1849 gold rush. Along the way Eliza meets Tao Chi'en, a Chinese doctor who saves her life and becomes her closest friend. What starts out as a search for a lost love becomes, over time, the discovery of self; and by the time Eliza finally catches up with the elusive Joachin, she is no longer sure she still wants what she once wished for. --Margaret Prior

Genres historical fictionfictionromancehistoricalmagical realismbook clubnovelsliteraturespanish literaturelatin american

464 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1,1998

Series

Trilogía Involuntaria

Literary awards

premio valle-inclán,

Places

california, valparaíso, chile, san francisco california,

This edition

Format: 464 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published: October 30, 2001 by HarperVia
ISBN: 9780380821013
ASIN: 038082101X
Language: English

Characters More characters

About the author

isabel allende

Isabel Allende Llona is a Chilean-American novelist. Allende, who writes in the "magic realism" tradition, is considered one of the first successful women novelists in Latin America. She has written novels based in part on her own experiences, often focusing on the experiences of women, weaving myth and realism together. She has lectured and done extensive book tours and has taught literature at several US colleges. She currently resides in California with her husband. Allende adopted U.S. citizenship in 2003.