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I enjoy Isabelle Allende's work and looked forward to reading her latest offering which had the added interest for me, a California historian, of partially taking place in the gold fields during the California Gold Rush. The plot revolves around Eliza Sommers, orphaned at birth and raised in the British colony of Valparaiso, Chile, by the well-intentioned Victorian spinster and her more rigid brother to be a proper young English woman. Just as Eliza meets and falls in love with Joaquin Andieta, a lowly clerk who works for Jeremy, gold is discovered in California. In response to this news, Chileans of every class, including Joaquin, fall prey to "gold fever" and depart for the gold fields in 1849. A pregnant Eliza follows her lover to California. The book is extremely interesting to this point for the information on Chilean customs and English responses to them, but beginning with Eliza's stowing away on a ship to San Francisco and the care given her by a Chinese doctor/cook when she falls ill, the plot slowly devolves into something much less believable. Once in San Francisco, Eliza disguises herself as a young Chinese boy and lives and works with Tao Chien, the doctor, while she becomes strong enough to go to the Gold fields and look for her lover. The relationship between these two characters develops from comradeship to love (if unrealized love) and then Eliza simply leaves him and spends many years traveling to the gold camps looking for Joaquin, still disguised as a young Chinese boy. Allende creates a mystery for the reader by blurring the character of Joaquin with the myth of Joaquin Murrieta until the reader wonders if Eliza's Joaquin is the famous bandit. During these years, Eliza supports herself by playing the piano in a bordello. As a historian, much of the plot and interactions between characters seems to stretch the reader's credulity, particularly if you know anything about California gold rush history or relationships between whites and Chinese at that time. Much of the last half of the book takes well known incidents in California history and regurgitates them for pages at a time without giving the reader any new insights. Additionally, Allende didn't seem to understand California geography. For instance, Eliza takes a steamship from San Francisco to Sacramento. In 1850, the actual path of a vessel to Sacramento was from the San Francisco Embarcadero straight west across S.F. Bay to the Sacramento River, but Allende has Eliza's steamer going many miles out of the way by crossing San Pablo Bay, the extreme northerly portion of the bay, to reach the mouth of the Sacramento River. Additionally, Allende's knowledge of California history of that period seems very basic, and often sounded as though it was being regurgitated from a textbook. The publisher wishes to emphasize the fact Allende tackles subjects and situations that confronted women of that period-- which is somewhat true. However, each of the choices and decisions Eliza makes, particularly in California, seems forced and nonsensical and these decisions in toto make Eliza seem more irrational than plucky. Allende is a fine writer generally, but Daughter of Fortune is not her best book.Read full review
I find library books are in great condition, because they have plastic covers on them. I like reading books. I am online all the time. I do not want to read a book online. Great author! And wonderful quality of hard cover book. The print is large enough for me to read in my 70's. Thx.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende is one of my favorite books of all times. Allende's writing takes you to places you have only dreamed about. There is love, history, geography, travel, it has everything! You will not be disappointed, and it will leave wanted to read more of Isabel Alland's books.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This book was bought as a selection for my book club. What I really liked about the book was that the story centered around a strong woman during adverse times. It explored an interesting cross section of cultures. The text was somewhat difficult to read at times since it was from a translation. But, all in all, it was a springboard for some good discussion. As for its place in historical fiction, it would have to score high for its accuracy for the time period and cultural aspects.
The book arrived quickly and I enjoyed reading it.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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