I don't think I have read anything by Isabel Allende in over 20 years. I used to love her historical fiction books.

This is a very short story about two young people found entwined in a museum after a night of having sex. It turns out the pair are complete strangers. Both claim love at first sight. I think maybe the girl was slipped some psychedelics. You be the judge. I am horribly unromantic so I just didn't buy what they were saying.

This was a magical tale - a proof that once you are in love, you get into a parallel universe where everything is possible and the worldly rules don't apply any more.

Fairytale like in its oddity and quick, obsessive love. Very enjoyable short read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC of this story.

Reading this as a basque person myself and an art history student was specially interesting.

I’ve always loved Allende’s writing and this wasn’t going to be the exception. Her masterful use of the language is incredible to read; it transported me into the story and made me want to continue reading even though it was such a short story. The descriptions were very accurate and I could easily identify where things were taking place, specilly having been to the museum several times myself. The whole museum talk was also very spot on, it shows that Allende has made the proper research to learn about the way museums work, specially in regards to security.

I think I’ve never liked a short story’s characters so much as I have with these ones. I wouldn’t have complained if the story would have been longer if that meant I could get to know then better. You could tell they were really well rounded characters and that she had paid attention to the details, even for such a short piece as this one.

It was really fun to see magical realism brought over to the art world and I found that the two work together really well, but maybe that is just my own romantic view of the arts. My only complain with this is that it isn’t longer.

A very short and sweet story about a magical museum, a new and passionate love, and the realities that want to tell you otherwise.

A runaway bride leaves her obligations behind and finds herself in the arms of a handsome man and then quickly in a magical museum where they dance with sculptures, float in the air, and listen to the sounds of waterfalls. They’re found the next morning by an inspector who only wants to know how they were able to slip inside the locked and guarded museum where evidence of their night are in every room but with absolutely no trace of them on cameras.

The description of the museum in the “dimension of dreams” during the “time that is not marked by clocks” felt so whimsical, it left me wanting more stories from this pocket of space. I quite enjoyed it all except there was some questionable consent since the young woman was drunk when meeting the young man, and even had to be sent to a detox clinic to recover from the “intoxication that had almost killed her.” Overall I wish there was a bit more to the story, especially the museum, but I would still recommend this for a quick read of whimsy.

Fun short story by this well known author.

When a woman in a bridal gown and a naked man are found together one morning locked in the museum the police are called and questions are asked. The most important one being how they got into a locked museum in the first place, let alone why the dress.

Lots of dialogue to make you smile, some fantasy, and a neat ending. I liked it very much.

Quando um casal de jovens amantes, é encontrado no Museu Guggenheim, em Bilbao– um homem nu e uma mulher com um vestido de noiva – o detetive Aitor Larramendi, que está a investigar o caso, fica estupefacto com a forma como conseguiram entrar no museu e passar uma noite inteira sem serem detetados pelas câmeras de segurança. Enquanto o detetive interroga Bibiña Aranda e seu amante Indar Zubieta, os seus relatos sobre os acontecimentos daquela noite acabam por deixar mais perguntas do que respostas.
Com elementos de realismo mágico, romance e humor, esta novella foi uma leitura divertida . Algumas perguntas ficaram sem resposta devido a ser uma leitura pequena, mas ainda assim gostei da história e voltaria a ler o trabalho desta autora!

for a short story i thought this was a lot of fun! it was funny, interesting, and raised some questions. but it also suffered from how short it was i think, because it did feel choppy and hard to read at some points. i wish this was more like a 100 page novella or something tbh but i'll def have to give this author a try now!

thank you to netgalley & the publisher for an arc!

I truly enjoyed this novella! It was refreshing to read a story that included so much detail in such few pages, and was actually entertaining. I laughed out loud from some of the comical and witty dialogue and banter. I only noticed one grammatical error, which was when the female protagonist was speaking and said ‘a’ and not ‘at’. The cover is beautiful, and goes very well with the lovely descriptive imagery that were written throughout this novel, placed here and there to enhance the reader’s immersion experience of being there in the museum with the lovers whilst also trying to see what happened from the detective’s viewpoint. I loved the magical realism aspect to the story!

A literary short story from Isabel Allende, of magic in the universe, a spellbinding love that transcends words and names, an instant recognition, as if they had known each other in another life, escaping the rain and entering the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, where there are all the signs of lovemaking in the art galleries, everywhere, the inescapable presence of the lovers, and a tattered wedding dress in the morning. How did they bypass all security, and not register on the CCTV cameras? Inspector Larramendi, nicknamed the hound of Bilbao, interrogates Bibina Aranda and Indar Zubieta, hunting for logic, although there are rumours of bewitchment, strange happenings at the Museum in the past. This is all beyond his experience, transcending all that he knows. Perhaps he should just find peace by rejoicing, appreciating the beauty and mystery of the heart, and joy of the unknowable. Many thanks to Amazon Original Stories for an ARC.

Lovers at the Museum is a (very) short story about a wild night of debauchery. I enjoyed the whimsy and questions raised, but this story was almost too short and as a result very choppy with characters that read like caricatures. I recommend this if you'd like a really quick read that is thought-provoking and ethereal.

Thank you to Amazon Original Stories for gifting me with an ARC to review! All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC! This book was about a pair of lovers and misadventures in a museum. It was very whimsical and silly and fun. I enjoyed the lightheartedness even if the content wasn’t overly long or plot heavy. It was very short but I thought that added to the vibe.

This was a sweet little mystery. I always want more when it comes to short stories. Were there others who experienced similar experiences? Did the museum offer a place of magic for individuals who need it? Can this universe be accessed from other locations? I would love a longer dive into this world.

Night at the Museum...

A short story, wherein a detective must suss out what happened between a runaway bride and a nekkid man. They swear its love at first sight. He thinks it is way shadier. A mystery to solve. Or, not.
Its Isabel Allende, folks.
Recommend.

A detective trying to puzzle out the mystery of a new couple that found themselves in a highly secured museum overnight.
This short story packed quite a big punch with its whimsy and ethereal look at love and art and a dash of magic in the midst of a grounded, technical world. I would have preferred this work to be a bit longer, but I know I'll be thinking over this story for several days!

This is a short story that was beautifully written. The story is told from the perspective of a detective who is stuck trying to figure out how two people managed to make love all through a museum without being caught by the guards or setting off a single alarm. I think my favorite part was when the detective determined this would never be solved to his boss’s satisfaction and placed the file next to four others and I would love to know what other mysterious and mystical cases he has investigated. The story itself did feel finished, but I would love to know about that detective.

This was a good book. I really love the world building and the characters. The pacing was really good and it was an interesting story to read

Lovers at the Museum - Isabel Allende

Two sleeping lovers are discovered in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilboa - a man, stark naked. And a woman, still in her wedding dress.

Nobody - the museum cleaners that the discovered them, the security guards who claim there is no way they could’ve broken into the museum with the security measures in place; and especially Detective Aitor Larramendi - has any idea how they got into the museum undetected.
Desperate to find any sort of answers, Detective Larramendi interrogates both the man and the woman to find any slip ups in their love story. They both retell the night before, that they did not know each other before (or even each other’s names until told by Larramendi), and that they waltzed into the museum without any trouble or tampering with any security measures, for a night filled with love and magic.

Though short in length, Lovers at the Museum has readers locked into these stranger’s story and wondering - what do you believe?

This is the first Isabel Allende that I've read, and let me tell you it will NOT BE THE LAST. I was enchanted, what a strange and consuming story.

An amusing and briskly-paced short story, 'Lovers at the Museum' follows the whimsical tale of two unexpected lovers discovered amidst the halls of a museum. Despite their bewildering circumstances and fuzzy memories of arrival, the narrative unfolds with charm and humor. Although brief, the story captivates with its swift pace and offers a delightful introduction to the allure of an Allende narrative.