Consuelo fashions stories about herself in order to craft the solid history which has been taken from her.

I was born in the back room of a shadowy house, and grew up amidst ancient furniture, books in Latin, and human mummies, but none of these things made me melancholy, because I came into the world with a breath of the jungle in my memory’.Īllende then moves to the story of Eva’s mother, Consuelo, who is raised in a convent after being abandoned by her parents. The novel’s opening sentences certainly captured my attention: ‘My name is Eva, which means “life,” according to a book of names my mother consulted. In the novel, Allende ‘tells the sweet and sinister story of an orphan who beguiles the world with her astonishing visions, triumphing over the worst of adversity and bringing light to a dark place’. This particular translation of Eva Luna, which was published originally in 1987, has been worked on by Margaret Sayers Peden. I plumped for Eva Luna as the storyline appealed to me the most, and I felt that it would be an interesting inclusion for my Reading the World project, too.Īllende is rather a prolific author, who was born in Peru and now resides in California many of her books have been widely translated into ‘more than twenty-seven languages’, and have consequently become bestsellers over four continents. Regardless, several years have elapsed, and I felt that it was time to pick up another of her books. I liked it well enough, but I must admit that I did find it a little disappointing, particularly considering the wealth of great reviews which I made sure to read before making my selection. The only book of Isabel Allende’s which I had read prior to Eva Luna was The House of the Spirits.

Eva luna isabel