Daughter of Fortune
A Novel
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An orphan raised in Valparaiso, Chile, by a Victorian spinster and her rigid brother, vivacious young Eliza Sommers follows her lover to California during the Gold Rush of 1849. Entering a rough-and-tumble world of new arrivals driven mad by gold fever, Eliza moves in a society of single men and prostitutes with the help of her good friend and savior, the Chinese doctor Tao Chi'en. California opens the door to a new life of freedom and independence to the young Chilean, and her search for her elusive lover gradually turns into another kind of journey. By the time she finally hears news of him, Eliza must decide who her true love really is.
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Author Extras
Reading Guides:
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Critical Praise for
Daughter of Fortune
“An extravagant tale by a gifted storyteller whose spell brings to life the 19th century world. . . . entertaining and well paced . . . compelling.”
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Los Angeles Times
A "rich cast of characters . . . a pleasurable story. . . . In Daughter of Fortune, Allende has continued her obsession with passion and violence. "
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New York Times Book Review
A fast-pased adventure story.
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San Francisco Chronicle
Allende details her plot and settings richly.
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Entertainment Weekly
“Allende has created a masterpiece of historical fiction that is passionate, adventurous, and brilliantly insightful. . . . suspenseful and surprising.”
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Denver Post
Allende interweaves a densely layered tale of passion with the stuff of history and legend.
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San Diego Union-Tribune
Allende is a unique and staggering storyteller with an enviable talent for intricate narratives . . . Once the reader submits to her wizardry, a florid, detailed universe of hopes and lust, of class struggle and quarreling individual identities, unfolds.
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The Boston Sunday Globe
Allende projects a woman's point of view with confidence, control and an expansive definition of romance as a fact of life.
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Time
Daughter of Fortune is full of energy and vivacity. It holds out a promise of happiness.
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Vogue Australia
Sprawling, engrossing, richly textured and expansively told . . . This is storytelling at its most seductive, a brash historical adventure.
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Publishers Weekly (starred review)
The Chilean novelist possesses the eyes, ears, mind, heart and pluck to manufacture generous and feisty fiction. . . . [A] rambunctious picaresque about love and obsession.
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Miami Herald
"In this luscious saga, Allende reaches beyond her previous novels (e.g., Eva Luna) in both space and time...entertaining reading. For all collections."
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Library Journal
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Maya's Notebook LP
Neglected by her parents, nineteen-year-old Maya Nidal grows up in a rambling old house in Berkeley with her grandparents. Her grandmother, Nidia, affectionately known as Nini, is a force of nature—a woman whose formidable strength helped her build a new life after emigrating from Chile in...
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Maya's Notebook Unabridged CD
Neglected by her parents, nineteen-year-old Maya Nidal has grown up in Berkeley with her grandparents. Her grandmother Nini is a force of nature, a woman whose formidable strength helped her build a new life after emigrating from Chile in 1973. Popo, Maya's grandfather, is a gentle man...
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The Infinite Plan
In The Infinite Plan , critically acclaimed, bestselling author Isabel Allende weaves a vivid and engrossing tale of one man's search for love and his struggle to come to terms with a childhood of poverty and neglect. It is the story of Gregory Reeves and his hard journey from L.A.'s Hispanic...
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