suegoldberg13 's review for:

My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende

4.0

adventurous challenging emotional informative fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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Isabel Allende's Emilia is larger than life, an incredible female for any age, let alone the mid to upper 1880s! Born to a teenage Irish novitiate and rejected by her Chilean nobleman father, she is brought up by her extraordinary mother and eventually her loving, doting father from San Francisco's Mission District. He is both her teacher and her protector, though Emilia is strong-willed and ambitious. She is fluent in Spanish and has a surprising career as a writer at an early age. "My Name is Emilia del Valle" gives us an historical peek at early San Francisco history, what journalism might have been like in that period, and also an excruciatingly detailed, on-the-spot recounting of war in Chile. Emilia has traveled there for work, but more importantly, to find the birth father her mother has never forgiven, trying to put at rest the angst and mystery surrounding him. The story keeps readers engrossed with its detailed descriptions of people, locations, and the brutality of war. I found Emilia's love life a bit difficult to believe and the eventual love story needed far more background than the book provides. One final thought, for now:  I am in awe of the translators who preserve the beauty of the author's words and present us with a compelling book.