Ines of My Soul brings two historical figures whose paths cross in Peru. She is a poor seamstress with no prospects for a better life in Spain and he is a Spanish war hero who seeks honor and glory. They share the same illusions, him of founding a kingdom and her being part of something grander.

The story begins in 1500’s Spain; it is the beginning of the Spanish conquest of the Americas. And Ines Suarez, under a pretext of wanting to seek her husband in the New World whose been gone for a few years, leaves the stifling, poor life in Spain to seek adventure in Americas.

Pedro de Valdivia, a war hero, finds the biggest pleasure in books. After reading of the voyages of Columbus, Magellan, Vespucci, Cortes, and many others, he starts craving grandeur adventures of the New World, and to leave behind a corrupt and war-ravaged Europe.

In Peru, he gets embroiled in a civil war under Francisco Pizarro who names him his field marshal. But he doesn’t want to live in the shadow of Pizarro. After hearing about Diego del Almagro’s expedition to Chile, a dream is set in motion of conquering the still innocent territory of Chile.

When the paths of Ines and Pedro cross, they both make a decision to follow their hearts.

The story vividly portrays many layers of the lands being conquered by Spaniards, the search for El Dorado and the rush to get rich, the clashing encounters with the natives, the lush nature of steaming jungles and unknown insects and creepy animals leading to many outbreaks and deaths, the harsh reality and isolation for those who try to found new settlements. The continuous invasions and mistreatment of the natives lead to further buildup of their resentment.

The characters are richly developed with their ambitions, faults, and passion. Ines a poor seamstress turns to found the first hospital in Chile. She goes on building more hospitals, churches, convents, chapels, sanctuaries, and entire towns. Valdivia, a war hero, despite gaining and losing money, he continues to dream big. He conquers new lands and establishes new settlements.

Written with passion, woven with great skill, and with vivid historical background, the story results in an epic adventure of great conquerors.

So good!

Good story

Well written and researched. Kept me interested from the beginning. Historical fiction about the Spanish takeover of Chile in the 1500's.

Una historia que me encantó desde la primera página. Isabel Allende despliega todo un trabajo de investigación del tiempo de colonización de los españoles y en esta ocasión nos narra sobre la vida de Inés Suárez, la primera mujer conquistadora de Chile.

Me encantó conocer sobre esta mujer que a punta de empanadas pudo hacerse su futuro. Aprendí sobre el Imperio Inca, más allá de lo que en el colegio te enseñan, aprendí como fue aquel.avance desde el Perú para conquistar Chile, ciertamente este tipo de historias se desconocen y solo Allende podría haber rescatado del "Anonimato" a una mujer que fue clave en poner los cimientos de lo.que hoy es el país de Chile.

En este relato encontramos la reconstrucción de la historia de la colonización a través de la voz de Inés Suárez, con ese toque de realismo mágico muy propio de la autora en sus obras, esa combinación de lo real con lo mítico y legendario que hace perder al lector el sentido de la propia realidad al sumergirlo en un relato intenso, en dónde las pasiones se ponen en juego y el amor es uno de los protagonistas.

Isabel Allende siempre será un acierto.

Leer la historia a través de la pluma

Well, Isabel Allende has been one of my favorite writers since high school. I read The House of the Spirits and fell in love with her fantastical and historical story. I've been a devoted reader of her stuff throughout the years. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found another of her books that resonates as much as House of the Spirit did and this book is no exception. The book is about the Spanish conquest of Chile and includes a lot of interesting history and well-developed characters. The battle scenes and the technicalities of setting up a new country, however, weigh down the overall story leaving it dry and stiff. Oh well. As you will see, I've started reading House of the Spirits again just to remember the good old days of Isabel Allende.

"Não encontro outra falha em mim que não seja a minha própria condição de mulher, embora só isso já pareça ser crime suficiente. A nós, culpam-nos sempre pela luxúria dos homens, mas não será que o pecado está em quem o comete?"

"Inés da Minha Alma" é um romance histórico sobre a vida de Inés Suárez, uma costureira espanhola que decidiu partir rumo ao Novo Mundo à procura do seu marido, perdido em busca da glória.

A história é contada através das memórias de Inés, que já perto do fim da vida decide contar todas as suas aventuras. Uma mulher pobre e analfabeta, numa sociedade em que não tinha quaisquer direitos ou recursos, Inés fundou a cidade de Santiago e tornou-se numa das mulheres mais poderosas do Chile.

Embarcou rumo às Américas, numa viagem de barco bastante atribulada e quando descobriu que era agora uma viúva, em vez de regressar a Espanha, Inés decide ficar e ajudar a conquistar o Chile. Por amor. Tornou-se numa guerreira fenomenal e na segunda pessoa mais rica do Chile.

A forma como Isabel Allende nos consegue passar as emoções é soberba. O livro tem cenas bastante fortes, cenas de guerra, cenas violentas, de dor e tragédia e o leitor consegue sentir exactamente todas as emoções transmitidas.

É apenas o meu segundo livro de Isabel Allende, mas penso que nenhum vai superar "A Casa dos Espíritos", que é dos meus livros favoritos. No entanto, a escrita da autora não desiludiu em nada e gostei muito de conhecer a história de Inés

Isabel Allende é, neste livro, uma historiadora, uma contadora de histórias fenomenal e feminista. Vale muito a pena ler!

4/5 estrellas.
Isabel Allende nunca nos defrauda con sus historias. Aunque esta es una Historia con mayúsculas.
Es la Historia de la conquista de Chile, que emprendió Pedro de Valdivia en 1540, abandonando el Perú, inestable y peligroso, permanentemente envuelto en intrigas y contiendas civiles entre los Pizarro y los partidarios de Diego de Almagro, que había intentado la conquista de Chile y había fracasado.
Es la Historia de la mujer que acompaño a Valdivia en esta conquista, Inés de Suárez, extremeña, mujer de carácter fuerte y decidido, pilar clave en la conquista y fundación de Santiago de Chile, soporte y sustento en la retaguardia de los pocos españoles que se lanzaron a la locura de conquistar un reino, siendo poco más de 100 y unos pocos miles de indios quechuas, renuentes y mal dispuestos.
La historia nos la narra la propia Inés, una de las primeras mujeres españolas que viajó a América con un permiso oficial y que era la pareja de Valdivia, que no su mujer. Nos la cuenta en los años finales de su vida, cuando ya son pocos los que quedan de los durísimos años de la fundación, de la eterna guerra sin fin que los españoles entablaron contra una de las tribus de indios mas orgullosa, indomable, valiente y organizada que se encontraron en el Nuevo Mundo: los Mapuche y sus jefes Lautaro y Caupolicán. Guerra que sólo podía concluir con la muerte de uno de los dos contendientes, porque los mapuche nunca iban a renunciar a su libertad. Guerra que se llevó por delante al propio Valdivia en 1553 cuando se adentró demasiado al sur del Bío Bío y fue exterminado.
Es la historia de aventuras increíbles en la que un puñado de soldados españoles se enfrentaban a miles de indios, mal armados, desorganizados, pero eran miles!!. ¿Cómo podían, de donde sacaban el valor, de donde sacaban el orgullo, de donde sacaban los hu.....s? La Historia de la conquista de américa está llena de estos episodios que parecen increíbles, pero que fueron reales.
También es la historia, y la autora no escatima en detalle, de uno de los instrumentos que los conquistadores, supuestos civilizadores, utilizaron para conseguir sus fines: el miedo, la crueldad sin límites, la exterminación, la violencia indiscriminada.
Aventura, hazañas inimaginables, penuria, sufrimiento, hambre, con un único fin: no civilizar, ni cristianizar, sino conquistar y enriquecerse. ¿Fue esto legítimo?, esa es la disyuntiva en la que nos ponemos cuando leemos los episodios históricos que sucedieron durante la conquista de América: Heroísmo o violencia injustificada? Y pensaremos: todas las conquistas son iguales, el contexto era distinto, eran otros tiempos, el fin justifica los medios, la guerra es la guerra, el Imperio y el poder era lo primero: ya, pero fuimos nosotros.................
La visión femenina de la Historia enriquece el conjunto, ya que aprendemos sobre las costumbres de la época, la vida en las nuevas colonias, la situación de las mujeres que quedaban en Castilla, cuando los hombres emigraban a América...y nunca volvían. La situación de los indios, amigos, sometidos o enemigos.
En definitiva, un gran libro. Totalmente recomendable......

رواية ساحرة تأخذك لأمريكا اللاتينية ( تشيلي ) بأحداثها الآسرة بالسرد التاريخي للمعارك والحب !
كيف تغزو الأرض والقلب ؟

La pluma de Isabel Allende siempre es ágil y nos habla de grandes mujeres, pero en este caso la protagonista es una mujer que realmente existió y que fue una persona clave para la fundación de Chile. Una mujer muy atrevida y adelantada a su época.

إنيس المعنى الحقيقى للاسترونج وومان اند انديبنديت ..فى الحب حساسة وفى المواقف الصعبة سدادة

I got about halfway through this book before I decided Ines of My Soul was an assault against my spirit. The book is well written and, I would assume, well researched. My first source of disillusionment came when the reader (I listened to the audio book) Blair Brown for some reason decided to read the entire book in a faux Spanish accent, mutilating most of the pronunciations. Why?? Distracting and annoying to say the least.

But that was a minor quibble compared to actual content. Written from the POV of Ines Suarez, a conquistadora, I guess I should have expected the story to be filtered through a colonial mindset. However, the novel got increasingly more difficult to listen to as Inez passed judgment on "savages", excused the brutalities she witnessed and even committed a few of her own. Throughout, Ines judges some murders, rapes and massacres as necessary or to be expected, while others were regretful.

Yes, Ines would have regarded her compatriots as heroic but they were really nothing more than barbarians raping, pillaging, murdering, enslaving and torturing their way through the continent. Yes, this is plain in the book. I just got tired of reading about how Ines strove to justify, rationalize and admire a great deal of it. The scale of the slaughter is so beyond imagination I found it hard to care whether Ines ever found her missing hubby or took up with Valdivia or made it to Chile. I had no sympathy or identification with Ines. To me she was just a White woman who took the not so rare as you'd think opportunity to pillage someone else's lands and enrich herself in the process. I would rather have gotten to know the Indigenous peoples that were dying by the millions around her.

Ines' supposed "best friend" is her indigenous servant girl, loyal, devoted and lacking agency - a common trope among White historical fic authors who like to portray us folks of colour as content with (even enjoying) our roles as servants, whores and house slaves in their self-involved sagas.

What rankles me most is that too many people today all over the americas believe that colonialism is a thing of the past. But land and resource thefts continue across our lands. Racism and white superiority are as entrenched today as they were in the years the conquistadors. I'm not interested in exploring their lives or humanizing them or searching for some semblance of nobility and honour in their actions. I'd rather know about the price we've all paid for their greed.