Retrato en Sepia : Una Novela
by Isabel Allende

A finales del siglo XIX en Chile, Aurora del Valle sufre de un trauma brutal que borra de su mente los primeros cinco años de su vida. Criada por su ambiciosa abuela, Paulina del Valle, crece en un ambiente privilegiado, pero se ve atormentada por horribles pesadillas. Cuando debe afrontar la traición del hombre que ama, y la soledad, decide explorar el misterio de su pasado.

Portrait in Sepia is a 2000 novel by Isabel Allende. It is the second part in the stories of the Sommers family. Continuing with the granddaughter of Eliza Sommers (Hija de la fortuna), the protagonist is Aurora del Valle. The bastardized daughter of Lynn Sommers (the daughter of Eliza and Tao Chi'en) and Matias Rodriguez de Santa Cruz(son of Paulina del Valle and Feliciano Rodriguez de Santa Cruz) has no memory of her first 5 years of life. She has reaccuring nightmares of men in black pajamas looming around her, and losing the grip on the hand of someone beloved.

Mi Pais Inventado : Un Paseo Nostalgico por Chile
by Isabel Allende

El primer recuerdo que Isabel Allende tiene de Chile es el de una casa que nunca conoció: la "casa grande y vieja" de la calle Cueto, donde nació su madre. Esta casa, evocada por su abuelo con tanta frecuencia que Isabel cree haber vivido allí, se convierte en la protagonista de su primera novela La Casa de los Espíritus. Dicha obra vuelve a aparecer al comienzo de las fascinantes y seductoras memorias, Mi País Inventado, que ahora nos ofrece esta talentosa escritora.

Isabel Allende, author of numerous bestselling novels, was born in Peru, grew up in Chile, and then traveled with her parents to various diplomatic posts. Later, she was exiled permanently from Chile after the military coup of 1973. She is a perpetual foreigner now, an outsider in every culture, and so she sees things others miss. In this book, Author Allende takes a nostalgic look back at her life, her family, her native land, its culture, its foibles and its great strengths. She also reveals a great deal of her own inner self, creaing a powerful bond of intimacy with her readers.

El plan infinito
by Isabel Allende

El Plan Infinito, de la celebrada escritora latinoamericana Isabel Allende, es su primera novela situada en los Estados Unidos y con personajes nortemamericanos. Es la hipnozitizante y conmovedora saga de un hombre que, durante los largos años de su juventud y madurez, busca amor y aceptación. Allende traza la pobreza y abandono de la niñez de su protagonista, la persecuzion de las pandillas de un barrio de Los Angeles,el horror de sus experiencias en Vietnam, su vida frenética como abagodo en San Francisco---una serie de frustraciones que por fin se resuelven en acogida y redención.

What makes Allende's writing so remarkable in El Plan Infinito is that every one of the characters--and at times there are almost too many--struggles toward the light, toward redemption, in his or her own way. And so, although these characters have terrible flaws and failings, you come to love them and wish them well. And by the end of the book, most of them--well, I won't spoil it for you. Author Isabel Allende has a unique way of creating a sense of intimate communion with her readers, so that you feel you have come to know her as well.