★★★✰✰ 3 stars

Isabel Allende is one of my all time favourite writers.
When I was in middle-grade I fell in love with her Eagle and Jaguar series and in the years since I’ve enjoyed reading more of her books. Having loved her memoir of Chile, My Invented Country, I was looking forward to A Long Petal of the Sea as it promised to be an evocative account of Spanish refugees in Chile. Set against the tumultuous backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, this novel tells the story of a young doctor, Victor Dalmau, who alongside his sister-in-law and many of their compatriots are forced into exile.

The narrative opens in Spain, introducing us to Victor, his family, and Roser. Here Allende spends large sections to detailing the causes and consequences of the Spanish Civil War. We read of the bleak reality of soldiers such as Victor’s brother as well as the dangers faced by civilians. Victor, who is fighting against the fascist regime of Francisco Franco, soon realises that the only way he and his loved ones can survive is by leaving their once beloved but now unrecognizable country.
Enter the poet Pablo Neruda. It is thanks to him and the Winnipeg ship that around 2,000 refugees were able to escape a war torn Europe. In Chile Victor and Roser will have to learn to acclimate to a culture that is different from their own one. Their new status as refugees is not an easy one to embrace and both Victor and Roser will find difficulties in adjusting themselves to their new home.
On paper the story sounded like a tragic yet poignant epic. Sadly, within the first pages I soon picked up on the fact that in this novel Allende’s writing is all-telling and no-showing. There are a few brief dialogues here and there, but for the most part it is an act-by-act account of historical events with a few uninspired soap-operish elements thrown into the mix.
This ‘happened’, and then this ‘happened’, and years later this ‘happened’. I never grew connected to the people she was writing of because they didn’t really strike me as real people (which is ironic given that there are a few cameos of real-life people).
I managed to make my way through this narrative but only out of a sense of duty (towards Allende, whom I still consider to be an excellent writer and towards NetGalley). Usually it takes me a few days to finish a book...A Long Petal of the Sea took me over a week.
In the acknowledgments section Allende writes that ‘This book wrote itself, as if it had been dictated to me’. And in some ways it makes sense. This book feels like a blow by blow recital. The story lacks spontaneity, life. The characters are expandable.
While I recognise the vast amount of research that Allende must have carried out in order to write this book, and that she was inspired by the story of someone she personally knew...the writing is this novel was too passive for my taste.

Opening a new book by a much loved author is both a joy and worry. You know you have been on good journey's before, but the disappointment when things are not quite as good. No need to worry with A Long Petal of the Sea. Isabel Allende tells the story of the Spanish Civil War and the life of refugees in a way that is both heart warming and heart breaking. Brilliant this deserves to win all the prizes.

What a wonderful writer Isabel Allende is. I've read her with love and involvement ever since 'The House of Many Spirits'.

This novel spans over fifty years and looks at love, loyalty, trust and politics. But, above all love.

It's a wonderful book, Allende's writing is so wonderful (thanks to the translator here as well). She has bought Spanish and Chilean history alive for me and helped me to understand the real pain and effects of military states.

It's simpler and less complex than some of her other novels as it is more linear. I'd highly recommend reading this.

As always, author Isabel Allende writes a mesmerizing tale of Franco's Spain and the forced deportation of undesirable elements. The lives of Victor and Roser are in upheaval as they are forced to leave Spain and travel to Chile, to make new futures for themselves. So well written and highly recommended.

Isabel Allende is one of my favourite authors. This book is excellent and searing. We need own voices, sharing their own stories, and this is very real and very heartfelt from Allende. Thank you.

I longed to love Allende’s 23rd book- it is a grand and brave tale which begins in the Spanish civil war and ends, nearly 50 years later with in Chile, a country recovering from the fall of Pinochet. The opening scene where young trainee doctor holds a human heart in his hand Is extraordinary as is the journey taken by him and his wife, Roser across continents as they flee fate and their own character flaws. Allende’s bravery in scope and also in refusing to make her protagonists particularly likeable is exciting but for this reader, neither the plot nor the characterisation seduced. At times the writing felt rushed and sketchy as if she was trying, breathlessly, to get to the end. I am glad to have read it, to have learned about history, to have been reminded of some of Allende’s seminal works but I am not sure this will be considered one of those.
Thank you for the opportunity to read.

" Is my heart Divided or has it just grown bigger" This is a novel about identity and belonging.

In her introduction Allende makes it clear that this novel is inspired by real life events and by the lived experience of one man.

It's a War and peace story that begins in the Spanish Civil War. We initially follow the stories of Victor (trainee doctor), his brother Guillem and a music student their family has taken in, called Roser.
It begins in a dramatic way with Victor cradling a human heart in his hands and pumping it back into life.

The horrors of the Spanish Civil War touch the whole family and nation. What I was unaware of was that refugees who escaped over the Pyrenees were then incarcerated in French concentration camps.

We then have the stark contrast of this plot line with the luxury being experienced by a rich Chilean family on their way to Europe before World War 2 breaks out. Theirs is a comfortable life..

Enter the poet Neruda who "saves" some of them by commissioning a ship to take some of the refugees to Chile.. There they begin their new lives and the two plot lines interweave. The political changes that happen in Chile affect their lives all over again .

Taken against the sweep of human history the characters have little power and often all they can do is just survive. Maybe the characters aren't fully realised, but isn't it realistic that people who are struggling to survive are just trying to meet basic needs of food, drink and shelter? "War is a hurricane that destroys everything in its path" As Allende says.

The character of the Nanny Juana reminded me of the film Roma- the faithful maid from an indigenous background.

As Allende herself writes " a sense of place is important in all of my writing. Where do I belong? Where are my roots?

It has of course modern day resonances . How do we treat refugees? is it possible to resist persecution and bigotry?

This book carried me along in its narrative wave and I found it absorbing.

This is the first Isabel Allende book I have read and it caught my interest due to its initial setting during the Spanish Civil Wa which is a period of history I have read a lot about.

Although I tried to like this book, I was mostly disappointed. I felt the first half of the book was more interesting as the characters processed the dramatic changes in their lives but the second half of the book felt like a list of events with large time jumps. I assume that was due to the timing of the Pinochet dictatorship but it felt awkward and rushed.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

An interesting sweeping epic, covering events during the Spanish Civil War and then, for the two central characters, emigration to Chile. The historical aspect of this fascinated me, the human emotional story less so. Allende is a great writer, but somehow I just failed to connect with the characters.

(Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

A Long Petal of the Sea follows Victor Dalmau through the end of the Spanish Civil War and to his escape to Chile (via the ship Winnepeg, funded by Pablo Neruda) with his brother's pregnant wife Roser. Roser and Victor marry out of practicality, but as they raise their son and forge a new life in Chile, their relationship develops and blooms. Beautifully written, this is Allende at her best.

I was sent a copy of A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende to read and review by NetGalley.
To be perfectly honest I struggled a bit with this book. A novel based on fact and the first-hand memories of Victor Pey, who is cast as the main protagonist Victor Dalmau, it is part historical narrative and part love story. While I found the historical aspects very informative and quite eye opening, especially as much of it is set within my own lifetime and I am ashamed to say I previously had scant knowledge of the actual facts, I found that overall the way it was written was a bit dry. Even the more personal aspects were written in the same almost unemotional manner which ultimately made it seem awfully long. I am glad that I have read this novel but there were times when I almost gave up, even though I was interested in the subject matter. For me this was a worthwhile read but not an easy one.

A Long Petal of the Sea is the latest historical literary work from bestselling, critically-acclaimed author Isabel Allende. I have been an admirer of this master storyteller from the time I took a chance on her debut novel, The House of the Spirits, yet didn't find some of the books that immediately followed quite as alluring. This story takes place at a time of great conflict and anxiety across the globe. From the opening pages, I was reminded of how powerful and captivating her stories are and swiftly fell in love with her exquisite prose all over again, I mean, c’mon, even the book title is bewitching and evocative, and her ability to move me through her fiction; this is certainly a rarity for me.

At many separate points I felt moved and felt myself tearing up a little which rarely happens when reading despite the number of books I read. There is so much detail and intricacy that everything was made all the more profound and the deft hand in which it is written fills you full of emotion. The cast comes alive on the page and are all beautifully defined and difficult to forget. She is one of those writers that when she gets it right she could be literally writing about anything, telling the most mundane tale in the world, and she would still have me riveted and hanging on her every word; I'd liken it a little to those lucky people who could leave home wearing a bin liner and still manage to put the rest of their friends to shame. A deeply affecting and moving story. Many thanks to Bloomsbury for an ARC.

“The long petal of sea and wine and snow” is how the poet Pablo Neruda once described Chile, the country in which most of Isabel Allende’s latest novel is set, and Neruda himself plays a small but very important role in this epic story, based on true historical events.

Beginning in Spain in 1938, we meet Victor Dalmau, a young medical student from Barcelona, and Roser Bruguera, an orphan who has been taken in and raised by the Dalmau family. Roser is in love with Victor’s brother Guillem and is pregnant with his child, but like many others, they have their plans for the future destroyed by the civil war which is currently tearing Spain apart. Victor and Roser are Republicans, but when it becomes clear that General Franco and his Nationalists have won the war, they join half a million other refugees crossing the border into France in search of safety. It is here that they learn of Pablo Neruda’s plan to commission a ship, the Winnipeg, to transport two thousand of the refugees to Chile, where they will have a chance to build a new life. The only problem is, while Victor is offered a place on the ship due to his medical training, Roser’s skills are less in demand and she will only be allowed to join him if she can prove she is his wife…

A Long Petal of the Sea is the second book I’ve read by Isabel Allende. My first was The Japanese Lover and although I was disappointed by that one, I wanted to give her another chance to impress me. Sadly, I felt very much the same about this book and am coming to the conclusion that, despite her popularity, Allende is just not an author for me.

The story itself is fascinating. I have read very little about the Spanish Civil War and knew nothing about what happened in the aftermath, with Spanish refugees being placed in concentration camps on their arrival in France. I knew even less about the political history of Chile, which is the focus of the second half of the novel. I think My Beautiful Imperial by Rhiannon Lewis is the only other book I’ve read set in that country – but that story took place in a much earlier period than this one. It’s sad to think that refugees like Victor and Roser, who had already been through so much, would settle in Chile thinking they had found peace and safety, only to face more upheaval with the 1973 military coup and then years of dictatorship under General Pinochet.

My problem with this book was the style in which it was written. As with The Japanese Lover, I felt as though I was reading a long list of facts rather than a compelling story. I found it impossible to care about or engage with the characters because the author was just telling me how people thought and felt instead of showing me through their words and actions. This should have been a moving and emotional novel but instead I thought it was dry and impersonal and seemed much more like non-fiction than fiction.

I’m aware that Isabel Allende has a large and loyal fan base and other reviews of this book are overwhelmingly positive, so it’s obvious that I’m just not the right reader for Allende’s books. I’ve tried two now and I don’t think I need to try any more, but if you think this book sounds interesting don’t let me put you off reading it – you might be able to connect with it in a way that for some reason I just couldn’t.

This is a history book disguised as fiction, and I feel the fictional side of it suffers for it. Isabel Allende sets out to tell the story of the Spanish civil war and the waves of emigration that it gave rise to, particularly the diaspora of 2,000 Spanish refugees to Chile. She does this through the story of two families, the democratic Dalmaus in Spain and the conservative del Solars in Chile.

She aims to illustrate the broad sweep of war, conflicting political ideologies, education, poverty and religion through the intimate tale of the Dalmaus' experience of the civil war, their escape over the border to France only to be interred in French refugee camps, and finally getting on board the Winnipeg, a refugee ship organised by Pablo Neruda to take Spanish refugees from France to Chile, docking in Valparaiso on the day WWII breaks out in Europe. There, their destinies are entwined with those of the del Solar family, thanks to the idealistic son Felipe who rejects his conservative family's distrust of the refugees to embrace a more idealistic view.

In conservative, Catholic France and Chile the Spanish refugees are met with a mistrust and hatred through being seen as Communist, atheist, uneducated revolutionaries. They are shown as breaking down this xenophobic image by dint of their discipline and willingness to work hard, leading to a quieter revolution in terms of changing an entrenched Catholic, conservative outlook in Chile.

Allende's narrative style is very expository - it's a thinly disguised history lecture half the time, in an oversimplified style reminiscent of a high school history textbook. The juxtaposition with the fictional story is uneasy, as if the storyline is an afterthought. In addition the pace is very uneven, with relatively small episodes dwelt upon in great detail, like Ofelia del Santos’ unwed pregnancy and birth, then great swathes of time despatched with within a few paragraphs. The narrative voice is very much that of an omniscient author, and I found that quite old-fashioned and unsatisfying. 

There are undeniable parallels between the history of the Spanish civil war and Chile's history but the foreshadowing can be heavy-handed: "[Salvador] Allende had followed with passionate interest the triumph of the Republic in Spain, the defeat of democracy, and Franco's dictatorship, as though sensing an echo of his future". The political strand sits uneasily with the personal narrative because the author focuses first on one then the other, so it persistently feels like a novel of two alternating halves.  Because of this, I never fully managed to be swept up by the historical events or to immerse myself in the story or care deeply about the characters.

A detailed historical novel. Full of heart breaking facts. Not an easy read due to the style of writing - I wonder if some of the passion of the story was lost when translated from Spanish to English

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘A Long Petal of the Sea’ by Isabel Allende in exchange for an honest review.

This is a multigenerational epic set in Chile, the land described by the poet Pablo Neruda as the ‘long petal of sea and wine and snow’ over the seas. Its main character is Victor Dalmau, a young doctor caught up in the Spanish Civil War. He flees Barcelona and goes into exile with his widowed sister-in-law, pianist Roser Bruguera. When an opportunity arises they travel to make a new life on the other side of the world. Yet their fortunes change once more when General Pinochet comes to power.

Against the backdrop of these political events Allende weaves a moving love story. The novel is also about the sense of belonging and at heart felt a very optimistic tale even though it contains harrowing scenes. Allende’s writing is economical and while it spans decades it does so with a modest length.

In her opening letter to readers Isabel Allende writes of the real life events behind her latest work of historical fiction. In the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War half a million refugees had fled Franco by walking into France where they were kept in concentration camps. The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda commissioned an old cargo ship, The Winnipeg, and transported over two thousand of these refugees to Chile. The ship docked on the day that the Second World War broke out in Europe.

Forty years ago Allende met Victor Pey, who had been a passenger on the ship. He shared his memories of the Spanish Civil War, the voyage, and his years in Chile. They became friends and his life story became the inspiration for this novel.

As I began reading I quickly became swept up in its narrative. I have read a number of Allende’s novels and I find her writing powerful and inspiring. Her extensive research as well as personal experiences brings a sense of authenticity in terms of its setting.

While she is writing about political refugees from both the Spanish Civil War and later Chile in 1973 with General Pinochet’s military coup, it is a theme that continues to have great relevance in today’s world.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

This was my first Isabel Allende novel - the narrative takes place in Civil War Spain, a setting which has popped up in a number of my reads recently.
The novel does a great job of depicting the horrors of the war and especially the trauma of the enforced flight of the refugees - unfortunately a very timely and appropriate message in our times.
We follow the narrative of Victor Dalmau and Roser Bruguera, spanning years with, at times, heartbreaking passages of loss, love and longing.
For me, however, the language felt a little distant, a little expositional - not enough to take me out of the narrative but enough to let me be aware of it.

ALONG PETAL BY THE SEA

BY

Isabel Allende



Not usually a fan of books where politics are a prominent theme, I loved this book.
It has everything. I have a better understanding of the Spanish Civil War now and the emotional and physical turmoil that refugees suffered in the aftermath, losing everything.
Each chapter opens with a quote from the work of Nobel Prize winner, Pablo Neruda, a Chilean poet and politician. He chartered a ship, the Winnipeg, to take 2,200 refugees from the war to Chile. The title of the book is based on a quote from one of his poems.
Cutting across the turmoil caused by the war there is at the heart of the book a love story that covers generations of the same family. Their dreadful loss and deprivation highlights the situation not only in Spain but every country where there is turmoil.
Isabel Allende is an ardent feminist and strong women feature in her books. She interweaves events in her own life and historical events and her books have an immediacy taking the reader into the minds and hearts of her wonderful characters. Because the books are based on truth this reader was keen to check events and do some further research on the time of which she is writing. What a dreadful time, leaving Spain a totally changed country.
Family circumstances see Roser is taken in by a family while merely a girl. She becomes an accomplished pianist but as the friction spreads across Spain she has to flee from Barcelona for her own safety.
Victor is a young doctor exhausted in his attempts to help the injured and victims of the war with little medication, eventually he too must flee his beloved home.
They are together on the ship to Chile where a new and different life awaits.But will it be better? This moving tale tells of the struggle of the young couple and the thousands of others who land in a country with its own problems.
Through several generations we follow this emotional and gripping tale of families trying to exist and survive in the face of what appears to be insurmountable hardship.
This is the first book I have read from this formidable writer but it will not be the last.

A huge story, difficult to do justice to in a review although Allende’s foreward helps: ‘This is a story of displacement and love, or sorrow and hope, of a couple trying to find their place in a world in shambles, torn apart by violence’. We follow the Dalmau family, caught up in the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. The family is split and when the Nationalists supported by the Catholic Church are victorious; ordinary citizens and Republican soldiers flee across the border to France to avoid imprisonment, torture and death. In France, they are interned in unplanned ‘camps’; thousands died in these camps at a time when the rest of Europe was looking towards the imminent World War – hence the lack of help for ordinary Spanish citizens at the overrule of democratic elections by the Fascists including Hitler’s ‘test’ bombing of Guernica and the Basques before war was even declared. Shameful…

We meet everyday heroes and selfless people who put themselves out for others – within the despair there amazing people who restore your belief in humanity. Amidst the horror, the Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda refitted an old cargo boat called the Winnipeg, (chartered by the French Communist party and the Spanish Refugee Evacuation Service) to carry 2000 Spanish survivors to a new life and future in Chile. Chile’s doors had been opened to the refugees by the Popular Front Government led by President Pedro Aguirre Cerda against the wishes of the Right and again, the Catholic church. Victor Dalmau, a practising Doctor and surgeon throughout the conflict (though unqualified at this point) the surviving son of the Dalmau family discovers he can save Roser, his brother’s lover and their son by marrying her to make them direct family. They are granted passage on the ship and on arrival in Chile, meet Felipe Del Solar and Salvador Allende, then Socialist Party Leader.
We follow their growth in to the future, only to face another military coup in Chile in 1973 when Pinochet takes over – again largely overlooked by the rest of the world.

An important book – this tragic part of history is largely overlooked in UK history lessons. I loved the unexpected hope at the end for Victor – without a redeeming surprise the book would have been too desolate. (Despite knowing that for thousands, this desolation would be the reality). A powerful read.

I have enjoyed Isabelle Allende’s novels since the 1980s and was thrilled to review ‘A long petal of the sea’. I am pleased to say it did not disappoint.

The characters in this novel (apart from the historical ones) are fictional but based on those, such as her friend Victor Pey, who lived through the events portrayed in the book. . Victor Pey died ages 103 and survived the incidents recounted in the book. The novel is split into four parts, each accounting a period of time from 1938 to the 1990s. The novel starts with Carme Dalmau and her sons Guillem and Victor in civil war-era Spain where their paths then diverge. Victor is one of those lucky enough to survive the anti-Franco concentration camps in France to travel on the ship ‘Winnipeg’ into exile in Chile. The trip is funded by the great poet Pablo Neruda, and although not a fully- drawn character in his own right, his influence is felt throughout the book within the quotes used at the beginning of each section and in the title of the book which comes from his description of his beloved country as the ‘long petal of sea and wine and snow...with a belt of black and white foam’.

Allende is masterful in character development and the ‘secondary’ characters are as carefully created and drawn as Victor, Roser and Ofelia whose lives we follow through immense personal, social, economic and political change.

I recommend this to those who enjoy Latin American literature and/or historical fiction more generally.

With thanks to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for a review copy.