You can always depend on Isabel Allende to immerse you in a time and place so completely the modern world recedes into the back ground. Fantastic characters, beautiful scenery and an emotional storyline keeps you engaged u til the last page. Beautiful

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but unfortunately I just couldn't get into it, the writing style combined with other factors stopped me from connecting with the characters and the story. I do really appreciate how much work went into the research side of the novel however, I did learn a lot about history, politics and the general climate of Spain in the 1930's. I enjoyed this aspect a lot in fact, which added a star for me in an otherwise disappointing read. I can imagine other readers really enjoying this so perhaps it's just a case of the novel not being for me.

I have been a fan of Isabel Allende’s for a long time, The House of the Spirits is one of my favourite books of all time. This novel didn’t quite live up to the genius of some of her earlier work – but that is a very high bar! I still really enjoyed reading it and would definitely recommend it to anyone with an interest in the history of the 20th century. I found the historical elements of The Long Petal of the Sea fascinating; my only real criticism was that sometimes I felt Allende was leaning too heavily on history and forgetting about character.

I should have enjoyed this book, it had all the components of the sorts of books that I enjoy, but there was something about the writing style that missed the mark for me. I struggled with it and didn’t find it engaging. It was a chore to read, not a pleasure!
On a positive note, there was some good research into Spanish history!

Apologies for not posting this sooner - found a draft on my laptop!

I'm disappointed to say that I couldn't get into this book. I've read other works by Isabel Allende and others about the Spanish Civil War - which is why I requested to read it.

I soldiered on through the book, but as I couldn't connect with the characters - which is a non-starter for me I'm afraid - can't say that I enjoyed it on the whole.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

Absolutely stunning!! Gorgeously written, a magical read, and definitely matches up to Isabel Allende's previous books.

This is a rich, historical tale, filled with hope and despair, love and anger - as well as being a great novel I also learnt a lot about the Spanish Civil War.

I thought this was a beautifully written book with great characterisation and development.

This is my first book that I've read by Allene, but will be sure to read more.

Isabel Allende is a favourite author of mine and I love her historical fiction which bring life and interesting characters to events which affect populations as a whole. The Spanish civil war force a family to exile first to France then ultimately to Chile where they hope to start a new life. As society around them again implodes with political unrest and oppression we follow them through trials and tribulations made all the more real by the knowledge that the author herself loved through these tumultuous days in Chile and was forced into exile.
A fascinating read well told.

Starts with escaping the Spanish civil war and follows a marriage of convenience to escape to Chile and then they have to escape the Chilean revolution.....would really recommend....

This is a beautifully written book which I very much enjoyed reading. This journey takes us from the Spanish Civil war, through France and on to Chile. The treatment of refugees during this time shows us that this is an age old problem dealt with by people and countries in a variety of differing ways much as refugees today. The writing is immaculate and beautiful and all characters are so well rounded out that it is a pleasure to read carefully and with consideration. A total pleasure. Thank you Netgalley for ARC.

This is one of Isabel Allende's best books - her writing is always beautiful and so lyrical to read but I was transported back in time to the Spanish Civil War and then across the ocean to Chile. Guillem, Victor and Roser are complex characters but they were a delight to follow. The story unfolds slowly but captivatingly with hope, love and optimism resonating throughout. The best book I've read this year without a doubt and one of Allende's finest.

One of the most amazing books I have read in the past few years - I love Isabel Allende and this book was another corker. A saga of love, family and history, in a similar style to Louis de Bernieres or Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Magical.

This is less a biography so much as an evocation of two times: post-civil-war Spain and post-coup Chile. Allende is easy to read and evokes her settings with a vibrancy and beauty that sets them alive.

A great storyteller back on form with a wonderful story - for the full review go to https://joebloggshere.tumblr.com/post/615286436448665600/a-long-petal-of-the-sea-by-isabel-allende-this

Historical facts intermingled with a fictional saga related to the Spanish Civil War and turbulent political history of Chile. Well researched, with in depth characterisations covering several decades of non fictional and fictional incidents weighted perhaps more towards historical content than fiction, resulting in a story feeling more like a history lesson than a lighthearted enjoyable read. Commitment and involvement will reward the reader with a well written book by an author at the top of her game. Factual content and reference detail make it not for the faint hearted looking for an easy read.

From the Spanish Civil War of 1938 through to the end of the century, family, community and love, overcome in this powerful book.

Victor and Roser are the long-suffering main characters whose lives span more than fifty years with other fascinating, loveable or rogue-ish characters adapted from historical facts. Isabel Allende has no problem inviting her readers to become immersed in this historical novel from the first sentence. As if you are watching a film, she takes you from the gruesome heart of the Spanish Civil War to the exodus and establishment of new lives in a country the poet, Pablo Neruda, calls ‘A Long Petal of the Sea’.

With all the scholarly mining for historical events that Isabel embraces, it is no wonder that we can delve deeply into the real, lived experiences of her characters to understand the enormous hardship of war and exile. From 1938, the history spans Franco in Spain, to 1993 when the CIA-backed coup removed Chilean President, Salvador Allende, - the cousin of Isabel’s father- installing the ruthless dictator Augusto Pinochet. However, the appalling facts also find pathways into happy, satisfying and sometimes truly joyous outcomes. Having been through exile herself, Isabel is able to describe the vast emotions her characters experience and I found that this gave her book depth and authenticity.

If you want to know more about Pablo Neruda the poet, there is much fact immersed into the novel about his role in taking refugees to Chile in the Winnipeg. There are snippets of his chess-playing, writing, friendships and gregarious life that add spice to the novel.

When you start to read, curl up comfortably as you won’t be able to put this book down.

BonnieK

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.

Flitting between detailed moments and sections where years were covered in a few pages, this spanned political periods, loved and lifetimes. Learned a little amount around Spanish and Chilean history, and Neruda.

Isabel Allende can do no wrong in my eyes. I have read everything she has written and The Long Petal of the Sea does not disappoint, it is wonderful. Real events from the Spanish Civil War to society in Chile in 1994 are combined with fictional characters to create a love story and a remarkable historical novel.

The story of central characters, Victor Dalmau and Roser Bruguera is told with typical Allende delicacy and tenderness. We travel with them on their journey from war torn Spain to Chile and see real history through their eyes. This is a novel to love and to learn from.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had, of course, long been aware of the reputation of the novelist Isabel Allende as one of the leading and most influential South American writers of her generation but until this time had not read any of her novels. That I did so now is probably because of her choice of subject which she sets out very clearly at the beginning of her brief preface to the novel:

This is a story of displacement and love, of sorrow and hope, of a couple trying to find their way in a world in shambles, torn apart from violence.

The novel opens in Catalonia in the chaos of the Spanish Civil War. The couple in question are Victor Dalmau, a medical student that finds himself working as a medical auxiliary for the Republican army, and Roser Bruguera, plucked from a life of poverty by, and the gifted music student of, Victor’s father. When the war is lost to Franco’s Nationalists Roser, who is pregnant with the child of Victor’s brother Guillem Dalmau, is among the thousands that fled north to France only to be imprisoned in internment camps with no shelter or hygiene and where, as a result, thousands were to die.

Victor escapes to France shortly after and is able to track down Roser who has been rescued from the camps by a Red Cross worker, Elisabeth Eidenbenz who was, in fact the historical person who created, and ran, a maternity hospital for such refugee women near to the internment camp at Argelès-sur-Mer.

After they have been re-united Victor and Roser learn that the Chilean diplomat and poet, and future Nobel Laureate, Pablo Neruda has persuaded the Chilean government to accept Spanish refugees from the camps in France. When it becomes clear that only close family members can be accepted to travel together on the boat, the S.S. Winnipeg, Victor and Roser enter into a marriage of convenience.

As the newly but, as they believe, temporarily married couple embark on their new lives in Chile the reader has embarked on a sweeping historical saga. This novel is a panorama showing us decades of the history of Spain and Chile, a fusion of historical fact and fictional creativity, that shows us, through the stories of Victor and Roser, how our personal lives and our social and political lives mingle together to determine the paths we take and the choices we make.

We follow these characters across decades of their lives and witness their escape from fascism in Spain to freedom in Chile. We see them rebuild their lives in a new country, witness the hope represented by the government of Salvador Allende and the despair of the military coup that brings the Junta of Augusto Pinochet.

This is an ambitious novel and one that succeeds brilliantly. The characters are varied and all sharply and sympathetically portrayed, whether they be fictional, like Victor and Roser, or actual historical figures like Neruda or Salvador Allende, the Chilean President who died in the United States backed coup that brought Pinochet brutal regime to power. There is a lot of historical detail that is set out for the reader, but the author manages to successfully weave this seamlessly into the personal stories of the characters.

It is perhaps worth noting that the character of Victor is based on an actual person, know personally for many years by the author, Isabel Allende, and whose life story seems clearly to have been an inspiration for this book. This certainly feels like a novel that has been built on lived experiences.

This then is an epic story, a story of refugees from the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s that perhaps resonates today because it reminds us of all those that have fled their homes seeking refuge from the conflicts of today. A story of survival in the face of exile and loss. A story of our need for love and our need for a sense of belonging and a story that shows us that such displacement and dispossession need not mean defeat.

I should also like to say that I really liked the translation from the Spanish of Nick Caistor and Amanda Hopkinson and rather think it may well have captured the tone of the original.

Isabel Allende has long proven her ability to craft a good tale. This is no exception. Her knowledge of history in this time takes the reader back to the era with a practised hand that makes the details come to life. This is quite possibly her best work yet.