This was like three different books. I loved the first part -- an strong, independent woman who wants to write but the only way to be published is to use a male pen name and how she fights to use her own name. But then the book started to concentrate on the Chilean War and the struggle there. And then the last part, I just didn't understand her choices and what she was working toward and found myself skimming to just get to the end. I with this was all brought together better and the theme thought out.

My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende
Emilia was born in San Francisco in 1866. Her Mother was to become a nun, but her father, a Chilean aristocrat took advantage of her, and then abandoned her and her unborn child.
The mother married a wonderful man who raised Emilia to be an independent thinker, and to be self-sufficient.
Emilia had a love of writing, and in her teenage years she would write fiction and sell them under a male pen name. Later she convinces a newspaper to hire her as a journalist, where she is paired With another journalist, Eric Whelan.
When the opportunity arises to cover Unrest in Chile, she and Eric both are sent to cover it and Emilia is excited to see the land of her birth father, and of her roots as well.
Once the war breaks out, she and Eric who are working separately are put in danger, but she is there to do a job, so she works with both sides to get her stories.
Wonderful story , with a lot going on. I am not big on giving away too much of a story, so you need to read this if it sounds interesting to you. Well worth the read.

I have always enjoyed all of the books I have read by this author.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for a copy of this book.

Emilia was born to a nun and an Argentinian man who refused to acknowledge her or her mother. Thankfully, she was raised by a loving stepfather. Brash and brave Emilia does not fit into the box prescribed to women at the time and instead becomes first an author and then a reporter. When she convinces the paper to send her to cover the civil war in Argentina, Emilia risks not only her life but also her heart. Told with stunning historical facts, Allende weaves a sweeping tale.

I enjoy Isabel Allende, but I found that I kept putting this down and getting distracted. I loved the character of Emilia, but I needed to get to Argentina a lot sooner and I could have done without the constant retelling about her circumstances.

Thank you to Net Galley, Ballantine Books, and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

“Emilia is a wild and bright spirit. I will never be able to hold her, I can only hope to accompany her and that love will keep us always together.” 🤍

a special thank you to Net Galley, Random House & Ballantine for allowing me access to an Advanced Reader’s Copy of My Name is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende!! it’s an absolute privilege to receive an ARC & i’m so honored to be able to share a honest review in exchange.

🔍 publication date: may 6th, 2025

review: ★ ★ ★ ★ (06/02/25)
a novel rich with history, culture & war but sealed with an tranquil, romantic end.

Emilia had my admiration from the very start. Her love for writing/reading, natural curiosity & passion for adventure created a FMC who i loved seeing myself in.

while i do agree the romance subplot may not have been necessary, i appreciated how it didn’t take away from her strength. regardless, during this period, to be a courageous woman, like Emilia was, is a difficult task.

on the note of difficulty, i was worried about not having much knowledge on the late 1800s or Chilean Civil War. fortunately, the historical context was approachable yet nuanced.

the book was far more interesting and complex than expected, especially the various societal expectations (whether it was the wealthy upper Chilean class the prejudice against indigenous peoples)

HOWEVER!! if depictions of war and light gore are uncomfortable for you, this may not be the book for you!

According to the NPR’s Book of the Day podcast, in My Name is Emilia del Valle, Isabel Allende wanted to tell the story of the Chilean Civil War of 1891 from an outsider’s point of view. Enter her protagonist, the titular Emilia del Valle, the product of an affair between her nun novitiate mother and a Chilean aristocrat. Raised by her mother and Mexican stepfather, Emilia finds that she has a talent for writing. She begins by writing very successful pulp novels under a male pen name. She then becomes a columnist for a San Francisco newspaper, eventually convincing her boss that she should be a war correspondent.

What I loved: Watching Emilia develop as a writer. I wanted so much more information about her pulp novels and how they were written but, alas, that wasn’t the focus of this novel. I also loved the tidbits of early San Francisco history sprinkled in at the beginning of the novel.

What I liked less: When she went to war as a correspondent. I was bored. I didn’t want to be there. I wasn’t even excited when this turned into a love story. In fact, I had a really hard time accepting the love story. They went from colleagues with zero chemistry to lovers in a blink of an eye.

What I hated: (⚠️ SPOILER WARNING ⚠️) I absolutely hated that Allende tried to trick me with a fake death. In a first person novel? C’mon. And I absolutely hated the ending. Just what in the world was happening there? It didn’t add to the story at all and just made me want to throw my kindle across the room.

I may have read this quickly, but it was not a solid hit for me.

This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've had this book on my radar for a long time now. It was my first time reading Isabel Allende's work, and I'm very glad I took a chance on it. What a moving story! I absolutely love Emilia's character, and her tenacity is something to be applauded and admired. I loved reading about her journey starting as a novelist and leading up to her work as a war correspondent. Her vivid descriptions of the battlefields made me feel like I was standing right there beside her and watching everything through her eyes. You get a little bit of everything with this book - romance, drama, suspense, etc. I look forward to reading more of Allende's work, and I would highly recommend My Name is Emilia del Valle to everyone.

Isabel Allende is one of my favorite authors and she, as always, doesn't disappoint me in this latest book.
Emilia del Valle is the illegitimate offspring of a nun and a wealthy Chilean aristocrat. It begins in San Francisc in 1866. From the very beginning, she exerts a feisty spirit and independent streak which leads to a life of excitement, tragedy and self-reliance.
As a trailblazer for women journalists, she becomes ensconced in the Civil War in 1891 Chile. The horror of this war is so well chronicled, and the savagery of war so well reported, We all know war is a travesty, but Allende is able to put it into words so remarkably well. Emilia is a character that all women will be satisfied with. She demands and proves that women journalists can do a great job reporting on the battlefield.
The pages ae imbued with a bit of mysticism which makes for an even more fascinating study of combat.
I am still thinking about this book after I've read it and will be doing so for a long time.

👉🏻For my friends who like epic life stories.

MY NAME IS EMILIA DEL VALLE by Isabel Allende (Translated by Frances Riddle, Narrated by Coral Pena, Jonathan McClain)

🎧Thanks, @grandcentralpub for the digital review copy via #NetGalley and @prhaudio, for the #gifted audiobook. #PRHAudioPartner #sponsored 10 hours, 31 minutes

I optimistically reached for a second book by this author (I was disappointed in VIOLETTA, but this one sounded more exciting). Isabel was born in 1866 San Francisco out of a brief affair between an Irish nun and a shifty Chilean aristocrat. Raised by her strict mother and a loving stepfather, she grows up brilliant, strong-willed, and fearless, writing pulp fiction under a pen name, then talking her way into writing for the San Francisco Examiner. Eventually, she finds herself in Chile covering the civil war and getting herself into more and more life-threatening situations. It all sounds fascinating, but the plotting was slow and the ending lost momentum, and the story felt like a grocery list of events (“and then, and then, and then…).

Not a great fit for me, but still interesting.

My Name is Emilia del Valle feels like a return to form for Isabel Allende. The House of the Spirits is one of my favorite books and I've enjoyed many of Allende's earlier works especially Of Love and Shadows but had struggled for a while to get invested in her more recent books in the 2010s. I'd been meaning to try her newer books as I'd heard good things about Violeta when I saw she was releasing a new book this year.

We're once again learning about another del Valle woman's life in one of Allende's books with Emilia del Valle offering an interesting glimpse into a period of Chilean history that you don't often find in Anglo-Western books. The beginning of this novel was a slow start for me and didn't quite hook me until about a quarter of the way through but by then it was a pretty quick read as I was sucked into her story once Emilia reached Chile. We follow Emilia, a strong willed woman trying to thrive in spaces reserved for men, as she's grows up to be a penny drama novelist and later a journalist, working hard to be taken seriously as a writer in a time period when typically only men were established as serious authors. The relationships she forms with the vast cast of characters she interacts with makes for a very compelling story as the world is fleshed out both as the civil war unfolds and during its aftermath. Many of the secondary characters became people I wanted to know more about and the way information about them is revealed, while still maintaining Emilia as the main focus of the novel, works really well. The final storyline that wraps up in the epilogue left me a bit underwhelmed after the scope of the rest of the book - the novel felt a bit unfinished but at the same time, I understand how that fit into Emilia's recounting of her life within the story.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing me with an eArc for review, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to Random House Publishing for the ARC to My Name is Emilia Del Valle! Following a young woman becoming a writer in the late 1800’s, this book focuses on Emilia’s journey as an unapologetic and independent writer and journalist in a time when this was an unheard of path for a woman. Emilia was born to a nun and aristocratic Chilean out of wedlock. Molly, her mother, was left bitter and angry after the Chilean man used her for her body and left her. Emilia, beginning at age 17, publishes dime novels under a pen name until she gets toe chance to write for a paper. Eventually, she demands her own name be used when publishing her writing in the paper. Emilia gets the chance of a lifetime to go report on the Chilean civil war, where her father is also from. She witnessed terrible things, experiences the harsh reality of life on the battlefront, and writes all the while. This book was well written and captured my attention well. I loved following Emilia along on her journey through all of her trials and tribulations. I would definitely recommend this to fans of historical fiction!

“My name is Emilia del Valle” by Isabel Allende tells the story of Emilia, born in San Fransciso in the 1880s to a mother who had been about to take her vows to become a nun but had been seduced by a Chilean aristocrat who abandoned her. Emilia’s life could have been disastrous from the beginning, but her stepfather, a teacher who had always been in love with her mother, raised her with love and tenderness. Exceptionally smart, Emilia wrote dime novels under a male pen name and became a journalist, using the name she’d built up a reputation for. When the civil war in Chile begins, she and fellow journalist are sent to Chile to cover both the government and the rebel sides.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Isabel Allende, and this certainly did not disappoint. I learned so much about South American history I did not know. And I was reminded of the horrors of war, which thankfully, I have never had to experience firsthand. Nonethess, books like this are so important to people to read. The cruelty and inhumanity caused by greed cannot be underestimated.

I enjoyed this book, but I did feel the last ten percent of it dragged out. I think it probably could have ended sooner. Many thanks to Net Galley and to the publisher for an ARC of this novel.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

My Name is Emilia del Valle is vintage Isabel Allende—lush, sweeping, and utterly addictive. But it’s also refreshingly bold. Emilia is a whip-smart heroine who barrels through 19th-century expectations like a runaway press.

Born illegitimately to an Irish nun and a Chilean aristocrat, Emilia grows up defying convention. Her journey from dime store novelist to war correspondent is gripping enough, but it’s the layers beneath—the fractured family ties, the search for identity, the slow-burning love story with fellow journalist Eric Whelan—that give the novel its heart.

The battlefield scenes are vivid and unsparing, told through Emilia’s clear-eyed reporting. The horrors of war don’t overshadow the personal stakes, especially as she uncovers long-buried secrets about her father and her roots.

While I admired her guts and grit, I found myself wishing for more of her inner world. Even so, this is the kind of historical fiction that pulls you in and doesn’t let go. With rich characters, surprising turns, and Allende’s signature lyrical prose, Emilia del Valle might just be my favorite Allende novel yet.

** Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for a review copy. The opinions are my own.

Isabel Allende is one of the world's best authors. Her books, at least the ones that I have read are always about South America. My name is Emilia dal Valle is incredible and yes, about mostly Emilia in Chile. It is the war of 1891.......The Chilean Civil War of 1891 was a conflict between the Chilean Congress and President José Manuel Balmaceda. The war, which lasted from January 16 to September 18, 1891, was rooted in a struggle for power between the executive and legislative branches. The conflict saw the Chilean Army, supporting Balmaceda, pitted against the Chilean Navy, which sided with the Congress. Ms. Allende's detail of the destruction and despair of this war is palpable! But it is Emilia's story of strength and determination that are the stars of this book! I loved it and I highly recommend it to you, readers!

I get nervous when Allende puts out a new book - she is so good, but she is churning them out, can this new one be as good? The answer is yes. Allende is so good at historical fiction and My Name is Emilia del Valle is no exception. This was beautiful and true and I loved it.

<b>3.5 stars</b>
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for this ARC. My opinions are my own.

Emilia del Valle Claro grows up in San Francisco in the latter half of the 19th Century. Her mother, Molly, is of Irish descent and was a nun before she was seduced by an unscrupulous young Chilean aristocrat, who left her pregnant and entirely without support (she obviously had to leave the convent). She married Francisco Claro, the intelligent and kind-hearted teacher at the Aztec Pride School, and he's the only father Emilia knows growing up.

Emilia is a sponge for learning, encouraged by her stepfather, and as she gets older, she helps support the family by writing and selling melodramatic and gory pulp novels. Her dream is to become a journalist, which is almost impossible for a young woman in the 1890s. She manages to persuade an editor to publish some of her work under the pseudonym she's been using for her pulpy novels. Once the Chilean Civil War breaks out in 1891, she is able to use her Chilean paternity to her advantage. The newspaper agrees to send her to Chile to report, along with her friend and co-worker, Eric Whelan, and now, they'll even let her publish under her own name.

In Chile, Emilia is able to eventually reconnect with her biological father, who by this point is destitute and near death's door. She and Eric are separated for the first part of the war, covering different aspects of the fight, and when they finally reunite, they realise that their friendship has developed into stronger feelings. They share a short interlude of passion before Eric goes off to follow one of the upcoming battles in closer detail. While they are separated, Emilia volunteers at one of the local hospitals until she is arrested, suspected of being a foreign spy. She suffers enough to give her serious emotional scars before Eric returns from the battlefield to get her out. He wants to take her back to her family in San Francisco, but Emilia isn't ready to go home until she's explored the mysterious plot of land her biological father left her in his will.

Isabel Allende wrote on of my favourite novels of all time, <i>The House of the Spirits</i>, and I've enjoyed so many of her other novels as well. She tends to write engaging stories featuring interesting women, who live lives that often challenge the gender and societal norms of the day. Emilia is a very ambitious and confident woman, who even at a time when most women ended up housewives and homemakers insists on going out and making a career for herself. She doesn't allow anyone to fob her off with frivolous pieces of society gossip, she wants to write about things that matter, and isn't afraid to put herself in danger to get a good story.

This book was a nice read, but the only character who really seemed to be fully realised was Emilia herself. Everyone else, including her love interest, is just loosely sketched out, like stock characters who exist in the story to show up another facet and aspect of Emilia's character. As such, it didn't feel quite as rich and complex as some of the other Allende novels I've read. If you've enjoyed her books in the past, though, you're likely to like this one as well.

<b>Judging a book by its cover: </b>This is a pretty cover, and I like the colour choices on it. I am, however, slightly confused about the scale of certain things. Is the sailing ship a toy behind Emilia? If not, why not have it in the background so it could look like it was closer to the horizon? Are the clouds metaphorical in some way?

Isabel Allende keeps writing these mesmerizing pieces told from first person point of view, centered around a woman and her life. Her description of places and conflict continue to make her one of the best writers in the game. The story centers on Emilia del Valle, a journalist sent to the report on the civil war and her main quest is to find her father. This book took me several tries to get through and I felt like I was sluggish reading through it at the end. I needed it to be over. Despite Allende being a good writer, I felt it was very much the same story I had already read from her before. I did not think there was anything wrong it was just very much a retelling of one of her other books. I do overall still enjoy her writing just wish she had another story.

First of all, I ADORE this author. Of course, I will read anything she writes. However, if you are new to Isabel Allende, I would not start with this one, as it's not my favorite. A few things: One, most of happens during the Chilean Civil War. Allende shares a lot of the history, and I do not choose to read war books. There's a lot of it in this story. However, I did enjoy reading most of it! Two, she uses some tell, not show in some parts of the story--though it usually bugs me when writers do it, I didn't mind too much because I liked the story. Three, the ending was a bit odd. It changes perspective and some of it didn't seem to fit the character to me. Will I keep reading Allende? YES, I adore some of her other books, but this wasn't my favorite.

I wanted to love this one as I love Isabel Allende but unfortunately was not able to get into it. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book!

Isabel Allende has created a strong female character, Emilia, who thrived in a loving home with her mother and stepfather. Her mother was a nun-to-be who was seduced and dumped after a one-night stand with a rich Chilean aristocrat. Her mother told her that she should reap the benefits of the del Valle name. Emilia longed for independence and a career writing something rare in the 1800s. She began writing novels under a pseudonym to hide her gender. Eventually she got a lackluster job at a newspaper.

A civil war was taking place in Chile and Emilia convinced her editor to send her to report based on her ability to speak Spanish. She also has another agenda, to find out about her father. A male counterpart who will become the love interest goes with her. They decide to separate with Emilia following the government and Eric following the rebels.

Emilia sheds light on the working class, having been raised in a poor-to-middle class home, the people fighting for a decent life in Chile while bearing the name del Valle, the crème-de-la-creme of the aristocracy. Her insights reveal the horrors and challenges faced by the people working to support the government while facing poverty. The social and economic aftermath of the war is something those in power dismiss as “too bad, so sad.”Allende does a good job of not pulling punches.

Allende also tackles the idea of women’s rights. She imbues Emilia with the strength of character to face up to the men who try to stand in her way to become successful and also rely on women to help her achieve her goals. As she travels further from home, Emilia is learning who she is and what she truly desires. I enjoyed Emilia and Allende’s journey into feminism and selfhood and would recommend this book.

Thanks you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this ARC.

This story begins with the life of a girl who is born in San Francisco as the 19th century is coming to a close, and life is changing, but it doesn't stay there long. As we learn that she is searching for her father, and much more. She is a bit of a dreamer, it seems, who hopes to see the world, beginning with Chile to cover the revolution. This is, at it's heart, an adventure story, but as the story progresses over time, there is much more to this story which offers a satisfying ending.


Pub Date: 06 May 2025


Many thanks for the ARC provided