Isabel Allende: "Violeta" - Strong female character in turbulent times

Isabel Allende celebrated her 80th birthday in August.

In her new novel "Violeta" she creates a strong image of women.

My book tip.

The Spanish flu also has South America under control with a slight delay.

In these turbulent times, Violeta, the main character of Isabel Allende's novel of the same name, sees the light of day.

We readers can follow Violeta's growing up and life on around 400 pages.

In an epistolary novel, the first-person narrator describes the stages of her life.

Isabel Allende "Violeta": About the book

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Violetta by Isabel Allende

© Suhrkamp

She was born on a stormy day in 1920, the youngest sister of five high-spirited brothers, Violeta del Valle.

The effects of the war are still being felt, as the Spanish flu is already devastating their South American homeland.

Luckily her father has taken precautions, the family gets by, but the next disaster is already threatening, the global economic crisis will end the elegant city life in which Violeta is growing up forever, the del Valles are retreating into the wild and beautiful hinterland.

There Violeta comes of age, and the first admirer is already at the door...

Suhrkamp

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Writer Isabel Allende - Author of "Violeta"

© Javi Martinez / Imago

In Germany, Isabel Allende won a place on the bestseller lists and in the hearts of readers with her debut novel Das Geisterhaus (promotional link) in the early 1980s.

In the past decades she has written more than 20 books, which have been translated into around 27 languages ​​and have sold millions.

100 years later, the first-person narrator writes the epistolary novel to her grandson Camilo.

Another pandemic has the world in its grip.

In the past decades, Violeta had numerous lovers, had two daughters, lost a daughter and had risen to become a successful business woman who doesn't let men fool her.

Isabel Allende "Violeta": My conclusion

Isabel Allende's "Violeta" is reminiscent of the author's earlier novels, some parallels and names appear and thus interweave to form a very unique, individual story that also tells of Allende's own experiences.

A must for lovers of romantic stories from the hands of a captivating writer.

Isabel Allende "Violeta"

Translated from the Spanish by Svenja Becker

2022, Suhrkamp, ​​ISBN-13 978-3-518-43016-3

Price: Hardcover €26, e-book €21.99, 400 pages (different format) – Order now (promotional link)

Isabel Allende

Born in Lima in 1942, Isabel Allende is one of the world's most popular authors.

Her books have sold millions of copies and have been translated into more than 40 languages.

In 2018 she received the National Book Award Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters for her lifetime achievements.

List of rubrics: © Suhrkamp