Top 16 Isabel Allende Best Books Updated 04 /2024

Isabel Allende, a Chilean American writer, is known for using magical realism, which was popularized by another Latin-American author, Gabriel Garca Márquez. She made it her own and used it in her own work. In her best-selling and award-winning books, Allende writes lyrical sagas and whimsical twists on historical fiction that often focus on strong, adventurous women, and they are often set in Latin America. In 2014, President Obama gave Allende the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and last year, the National Book Foundation gave her a medal for her work in American letters. We looked at some of the best Isabel Allende books, starting with her first book, House of Spirits, and going up to Oprah's 2000 Book Club pick, which came out in 1999.

A Long Petal of the Sea

Allende's new book is a huge historical novel that starts in 1930s Spain, moves over the French mountains, and ends in Chile. Victor Dalmau is Roser's brother-in-law, so she has to marry him to get away from Francisco Franco's oppressive rule. In A Long Petal of the Sea, Allende's magic realism twist isn't there, but it shows that ordinary people can have epic stories, too.

The House of the Spirits

In 1973, her father's cousin and the President of Chile, Salvador Allende, was overthrown by the military. Isabel Allende fled to Venezuela and lived there for 13 years. It was during her time in exile that she came up with the idea for her best-selling book. In the end, it turned out to be an epic family saga that spans three generations and is one of the most important novels of our time. Esteban, Clara, Blanca, Alba, and Blanca's mother, Clara, are the Trueba family. They live in an unnamed Latin American country, and their story tells the history of the country through the Truebas' story. Her first book is historical, relatable, and magical.

Eva Luna

Allende's character Eva Luna is the poor daughter of a professor's assistant in another imaginary South American country. She is a good storyteller, and she sees it as her best skill and her ticket out of the country. With the help of Eva's story, we get to know a group of characters that we'll remember for a long time, from her rum-loving godmother to the refugee who changes her world.Allende's third book, Eva Luna, has been a favorite around the world since it came out in 1989. Eva Luna picks up on some of the same political and social themes as House of the Spirits. She weaves these concerns into the story of an orphaned girl on the streets of an unnamed South American country. Eva Luna is often thought of as an example of the Picaresque novels that are unique to Hispanic literature. It also has a strong focus on womanhood and the unique paths that girls and women took in the harsh world of mid-20th-century Latin America.

Paula: A Memoir

In 1991, while her daughter was in the hospital for a long time, Allende wrote her own story. During Paula's fight with her illness, Allende told her family's story. She also used her signature magical realism, which is when she introduces ancestors and ethereal retellings of real events that are both spiritual and suspenseful.

Daughter of Fortune

As a young Chilean girl, Eliza Sommers is left on a doorstep by an English family when she is just a baby. This historical fiction book was a big hit with Oprah in 2000. During her story, Eliza's journey splits into two: the one of her adopted mother, a proper English lady, and the one of her servant, an Indian woman who teaches her the secrets of her culture.

Ines of My Soul: A Novel

Like many of Allende's other books, this 2006 novel is based on some parts of history, but with some magical twists. In Ines of My Soul, Allende tries her hand at historical fiction again. She tells the story of a Spanish conquistadora who helped build Chile, a person who is often left out of history books. She was born in Spain. When her husband runs away, Ines moves to the United States to find him. She also wants to have a good time. But she doesn't know how her journey will change her and the country she lives in.An historical novel called "Inés of My Soul" (Inés del Alma Ma) tells the story of Inés Suárez, a little-known conquistadora and the first Spanish woman to reach what is now Chile. Inés of My Soul is based on historical events. Inés of My Soul is based on a rare and extraordinary personal biography that Allende researched for four years. In the voice of an elderly Inés, Allende tells the story of the many twists, turns, and tribulations of Spanish conquest in the old Inca Empire.

Island Beneath the Sea

People will fall in love with and be amazed by Tété, a slave born on the island of Saint-Domingue to an African mother and a white man. A lot of people don't like her, but even when she's going through a rough time, she still holds on to music and the things that her slave-mates do, like voodoo. When she's bought to be the bride of a plantation owner, those survival skills will come in handy. She'll also go on a trip to Haiti and then New Orleans.

My Invented Country

Allende is best known for writing fiction, but she has also worked as a journalist since she was 17. In her 2003 book, My Invented Country, she shows off her skills with non-fiction writing. Several things about Chilean society come to mind when you think of the title. For example, the country is very concerned about how race is perceived in society. Allende herself has lived in many different places over her long and eventful life, and she feels both close to her home and far away from it at the same time. This is a heartfelt and insightful picture of Chile, where the Spanish-language original had a lot of success.

---