A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
The English edition of A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende (Translated by Nick Caistor and Amanda Hopkinson) was published in 2020 by Ballantine Books. Born in Lima, Peru to Chilean parents in 1942, the author is one of today’s most important voices of South American literature. At the age of three, she moved to Chile with her mother and two brothers, spending her childhood there, at her maternal grandparents’ home. After her uncle, Chilean President Salvador Allende was assassinated in 1973 and her name appeared on “wanted” lists during the reign of Augusto Pinochet, she was forced to flee to Venezuela. “She began writing a letter to her terminally ill grandfather that evolved into her first novel, Le casa de los espiritus (1982, House of Spirits). It was followed by the novels De amor y de sombra (1984; Of Love and Shadows), Eva Luna (1987), and El plan infinito (1991; The Infinite Plan) and the collection of stories Cuentos de Eva Luna (1990; The Stories of Eva Luna). All are examples of magic realism, in which realistic fiction is overlaid with elements of fantasy and myth. Her concern in many of these works is the portrayal of South American politics, and her first four works reflect her own experiences and examine the role of women in Latin America.” The Infinite Plan, however, is set in the United States, and its protagonist is male.
[For more information about this incredible writer, see her website and an online biography.]
Like House of Spirits, A Long Petal of the Sea is quality historical fiction; that is, research drives the story which provides details of a time and place while also weaving the tale of complex characters. It begins in the year 1938 during the Spanish Civil War, when Franco’s fascists defeated the Republican army and an exodus of thousands escaped into France. It ends more than 50 years later in a Chile experiencing the fall of Pinochet. Unlike her other novels, A Long Petal of the Sea does not include characteristics of the magical realism genre.
Most of the story in this novel is presented in episodic narration. One of the oldest kinds of literature, it is so named because it is often used in the epic genre where heroic or legendary adventures are presented in a lengthy format. Episodic narration connects separate incidents (or episodes), each one more or less self-contained, often linked to a central character or characters. One of the central characters in A Long Petal of the Sea is refugee Roser, a young pianist, widowed and pregnant with her first child. We follow Roser, her husband Victor, and her son Marcel, from Spain to France, then to Chile where they attempt to make a life for themselves among those divided by radically differing ideals.
Much like America’s own Civil War, the Spanish Civil War divided communities, friends, and even family members. In Allende’s gripping tale, it is the Dalmau family that gives readers a “boots on the ground” view of the true horrors and catastrophes of Spain’s war. We meet brothers Victor and Guillem, both on the frontlines, but with quite different skill sets: Victor is an accomplished doctor known for his stoicism and patience, whereas Guillem is a fighter through and through.
In the following quote from the beginning of the novel, Victor radios Guillem to tell him he needs to come home to Barcelona as their father is dying. Guillem is fighting on the Madrid front and refuses to leave, trying to convince Victor to join him instead.
“Anybody who can fire a rifle is absolutely needed here, Victor, you know that. The Fascists have more troops and weapons than us, but they’ll not pass,” said Guillem. He was repeating the Republican slogan made popular by a woman named Dolores Ibarruri, appropriately known as La Pasionaria because of her ability to rouse fanatical enthusiasm among the Republicans. Franco had by now occupied most of Spain but had been unable to take Madrid. Its defense, street by street, house by house, had become the symbol of the war. The Fascists could count on the colonial troops from Morocco, the feared Moors, as well as the formidable aid of Mussolini and Hitler, but the Republicans’ resistance had held them up in the capital. At the outbreak of the war, Guillem Dalmau had fought with the Durruti column in Madrid. Back then, the two armies faced each other at the Ciudad Universitaria; they were so close that in some places there was only a street between them, the adversaries could see one another’s faces and hurl insults without even having to shout. According to Guillem, holed up in one of the buildings, the enemy shells had pierced the walls of the Faculty of Philosophy and Liberal Arts, the Faculty of Medicine, and Casa de Velazquez. There was no defense against the shells, he said, but they had calculated that three volumes of philosophy could stop bullets. [Kindle Version, p. 13]
A Long Petal of the Sea represents Isabel Allende at her best, writing an ode to Chile (“the long petal of sea and wine and snow”-Neruda) and an expert depiction of the survival of generations of families with strong bonds, fortitude, and commitment. The themes of love, belonging, and transformation are explored against the backdrop of political upheaval. The historic facts she presents are sometimes horrific and brutal but never more necessary to be aware of than now. One cannot read about the Republican refugees arriving at France’s closed borders only to be placed into internment camps without thinking of America’s current refugee crisis at its Mexican border. Timely and true, A Long Petal of the Sea, as described in a New York Times review and in a Politics and Prose interview (4:11/1:05:26).as “…one of the most richly imagined portrayals of the Spanish Civil War to date, and one of the strongest and most affecting works in her long career.”
