I have read many books by the illustrious author Isabel Allende and have loved every single one of them. Her newest book, “My Name Is Emilia del Valle,” is no exception, and I am grateful to NetGalley, Ms. Allende, and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for giving me an advanced copy to read prior to publication. My opinions are voluntary.

As usual, Ms. Allende has centered this book on a strong female protagonist who demonstrates time and again resilience, courage, and independence in the face of adversity. This character, from whose name the book’s title derives, fearlessly and steadfastly resists societal norms and insists on shaping her own destiny as a single, unmarried, working woman in the field of journalism previously held only by men near the late half of the nineteenth century. In doing so, she deliberately puts herself in the position of having to navigate challenging circumstances, sometimes even deadly ones.

Eventually, though, this intrepid woman falls in love, still flouting convention by living openly with her lover. Love, however, doesn’t stop her from her dangerous, adventurous ways, and the two lovers separate, agreeing to marry a few months later upon her return. What happens next kept me in suspense until the final pages.

Every word on every page of this book was a delicacy to me. I enjoyed every morsel. I hope Ms. Allende writes many, many, many more books for me to read and enjoy.

My Name is Emilia Del Valle is a powerful story about a girl named Emilia who grows up in a country facing hard times. The book follows her as she grows into a strong and brave woman, even when life gets difficult.

Emilia has to deal with problems in her family and the world around her. She faces danger, love, and loss, but she never gives up. She learns how to stand up for herself and what she believes in.

The author, Isabel Allende, writes in a beautiful and clear way that helps you feel what Emilia is feeling. This book teaches important lessons about courage, kindness, and being true to yourself.

It’s a great story for anyone who likes books about strong girls, history, and finding your place in the world.

Another well written story by Isabel Allende. She has this classic way of giving every character a fleshed out background story, sometimes you forget what the main story was because you are so intrigued and entertained by the background information. I also know that every time you read an Allende story , you will be getting a small history lesson and this was no exception. Loved the history, loved the characters… and I would recommend for lovers of historical fiction and Isabel Allende.

When I picked up My Name is Emilia del Valle, I noticed frequent comparisons to Portrait in Sepia. Thinking it would provide helpful context, I read that novel first—something I now regret. On its own, Emilia del Valle might have stood as an engaging story. However, when read alongside Allende’s earlier work, it feels more like a repetition than a fresh addition.

Much of the novel revisits familiar ground already well covered in Portrait in Sepia, Violeta, and Daughter of Fortune. The recurring themes and family dynamics, once powerful, now feel overused. Emilia’s character, while full of potential, comes across as overly familiar—her accomplishments often feel implausible, and her feminist commentary lacks nuance. The story offers limited emotional development, and her romantic arc never quite resonates.

The historical backdrop of the Chilean Civil War, though rich with potential, feels more like a setting than an integral part of the narrative. The storytelling leans heavily on exposition rather than immersion, and the prose—possibly affected by a literal translation—can at times feel awkward and overly direct.

In the end, My Name is Emilia del Valle doesn't significantly expand the del Valle legacy. While long-time readers may enjoy returning to familiar characters, this novel may leave others wishing Allende would explore new stories and directions.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the complimentary eARC. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I still remember reading The House of the Spirits by Isabell Allende in high school. I was surprised to see she had another novel coming out! I enjoyed this book overall, although it was slow at times.

As a fan of the author I was immediately drawn into the history in California. The portions of the war and later story in Chile lost a bit of the connection the the humanity of the characters.

This book was extrememly well written, and I’m sure some people will love it! But it was very, very heavy on the history of the Chilean civil war. Too much detailed and description of the war for me.

The beginning and end of the book were great! The beginning was about Emilia as a child living in San Francisco, getting her first job as a reporter (women did not get jobs as reporters back in the 1890s), and heading off to Chile. The end was again about Emilia.. her quest to explore southern Chile and about her love interest. Emilia is a very likeable characther and I enjoyed the story of Emilia’s life and relationships!! If you love all the details and descriptions of the Chilean war, this book may be perfect for you!

Another great book by Isabel Allende! I was pulled in from the very beginning, the story of Emilia's humble beginnings and her life long fight to live life on her own terms, even in the face of imminent death, speaks not only to the innate fighting human spirit but to the every day women who refuse to bend to patriarchal roles since the beginning of time.

This was like three different books. I loved the first part -- an strong, independent woman who wants to write but the only way to be published is to use a male pen name and how she fights to use her own name. But then the book started to concentrate on the Chilean War and the struggle there. And then the last part, I just didn't understand her choices and what she was working toward and found myself skimming to just get to the end. I with this was all brought together better and the theme thought out.

My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende
Emilia was born in San Francisco in 1866. Her Mother was to become a nun, but her father, a Chilean aristocrat took advantage of her, and then abandoned her and her unborn child.
The mother married a wonderful man who raised Emilia to be an independent thinker, and to be self-sufficient.
Emilia had a love of writing, and in her teenage years she would write fiction and sell them under a male pen name. Later she convinces a newspaper to hire her as a journalist, where she is paired With another journalist, Eric Whelan.
When the opportunity arises to cover Unrest in Chile, she and Eric both are sent to cover it and Emilia is excited to see the land of her birth father, and of her roots as well.
Once the war breaks out, she and Eric who are working separately are put in danger, but she is there to do a job, so she works with both sides to get her stories.
Wonderful story , with a lot going on. I am not big on giving away too much of a story, so you need to read this if it sounds interesting to you. Well worth the read.

I have always enjoyed all of the books I have read by this author.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for a copy of this book.

Emilia was born to a nun and an Argentinian man who refused to acknowledge her or her mother. Thankfully, she was raised by a loving stepfather. Brash and brave Emilia does not fit into the box prescribed to women at the time and instead becomes first an author and then a reporter. When she convinces the paper to send her to cover the civil war in Argentina, Emilia risks not only her life but also her heart. Told with stunning historical facts, Allende weaves a sweeping tale.

I enjoy Isabel Allende, but I found that I kept putting this down and getting distracted. I loved the character of Emilia, but I needed to get to Argentina a lot sooner and I could have done without the constant retelling about her circumstances.

Thank you to Net Galley, Ballantine Books, and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

“Emilia is a wild and bright spirit. I will never be able to hold her, I can only hope to accompany her and that love will keep us always together.” 🤍

a special thank you to Net Galley, Random House & Ballantine for allowing me access to an Advanced Reader’s Copy of My Name is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende!! it’s an absolute privilege to receive an ARC & i’m so honored to be able to share a honest review in exchange.

🔍 publication date: may 6th, 2025

review: ★ ★ ★ ★ (06/02/25)
a novel rich with history, culture & war but sealed with an tranquil, romantic end.

Emilia had my admiration from the very start. Her love for writing/reading, natural curiosity & passion for adventure created a FMC who i loved seeing myself in.

while i do agree the romance subplot may not have been necessary, i appreciated how it didn’t take away from her strength. regardless, during this period, to be a courageous woman, like Emilia was, is a difficult task.

on the note of difficulty, i was worried about not having much knowledge on the late 1800s or Chilean Civil War. fortunately, the historical context was approachable yet nuanced.

the book was far more interesting and complex than expected, especially the various societal expectations (whether it was the wealthy upper Chilean class the prejudice against indigenous peoples)

HOWEVER!! if depictions of war and light gore are uncomfortable for you, this may not be the book for you!

According to the NPR’s Book of the Day podcast, in My Name is Emilia del Valle, Isabel Allende wanted to tell the story of the Chilean Civil War of 1891 from an outsider’s point of view. Enter her protagonist, the titular Emilia del Valle, the product of an affair between her nun novitiate mother and a Chilean aristocrat. Raised by her mother and Mexican stepfather, Emilia finds that she has a talent for writing. She begins by writing very successful pulp novels under a male pen name. She then becomes a columnist for a San Francisco newspaper, eventually convincing her boss that she should be a war correspondent.

What I loved: Watching Emilia develop as a writer. I wanted so much more information about her pulp novels and how they were written but, alas, that wasn’t the focus of this novel. I also loved the tidbits of early San Francisco history sprinkled in at the beginning of the novel.

What I liked less: When she went to war as a correspondent. I was bored. I didn’t want to be there. I wasn’t even excited when this turned into a love story. In fact, I had a really hard time accepting the love story. They went from colleagues with zero chemistry to lovers in a blink of an eye.

What I hated: (⚠️ SPOILER WARNING ⚠️) I absolutely hated that Allende tried to trick me with a fake death. In a first person novel? C’mon. And I absolutely hated the ending. Just what in the world was happening there? It didn’t add to the story at all and just made me want to throw my kindle across the room.

I may have read this quickly, but it was not a solid hit for me.

This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've had this book on my radar for a long time now. It was my first time reading Isabel Allende's work, and I'm very glad I took a chance on it. What a moving story! I absolutely love Emilia's character, and her tenacity is something to be applauded and admired. I loved reading about her journey starting as a novelist and leading up to her work as a war correspondent. Her vivid descriptions of the battlefields made me feel like I was standing right there beside her and watching everything through her eyes. You get a little bit of everything with this book - romance, drama, suspense, etc. I look forward to reading more of Allende's work, and I would highly recommend My Name is Emilia del Valle to everyone.

Isabel Allende is one of my favorite authors and she, as always, doesn't disappoint me in this latest book.
Emilia del Valle is the illegitimate offspring of a nun and a wealthy Chilean aristocrat. It begins in San Francisc in 1866. From the very beginning, she exerts a feisty spirit and independent streak which leads to a life of excitement, tragedy and self-reliance.
As a trailblazer for women journalists, she becomes ensconced in the Civil War in 1891 Chile. The horror of this war is so well chronicled, and the savagery of war so well reported, We all know war is a travesty, but Allende is able to put it into words so remarkably well. Emilia is a character that all women will be satisfied with. She demands and proves that women journalists can do a great job reporting on the battlefield.
The pages ae imbued with a bit of mysticism which makes for an even more fascinating study of combat.
I am still thinking about this book after I've read it and will be doing so for a long time.

👉🏻For my friends who like epic life stories.

MY NAME IS EMILIA DEL VALLE by Isabel Allende (Translated by Frances Riddle, Narrated by Coral Pena, Jonathan McClain)

🎧Thanks, @grandcentralpub for the digital review copy via #NetGalley and @prhaudio, for the #gifted audiobook. #PRHAudioPartner #sponsored 10 hours, 31 minutes

I optimistically reached for a second book by this author (I was disappointed in VIOLETTA, but this one sounded more exciting). Isabel was born in 1866 San Francisco out of a brief affair between an Irish nun and a shifty Chilean aristocrat. Raised by her strict mother and a loving stepfather, she grows up brilliant, strong-willed, and fearless, writing pulp fiction under a pen name, then talking her way into writing for the San Francisco Examiner. Eventually, she finds herself in Chile covering the civil war and getting herself into more and more life-threatening situations. It all sounds fascinating, but the plotting was slow and the ending lost momentum, and the story felt like a grocery list of events (“and then, and then, and then…).

Not a great fit for me, but still interesting.

My Name is Emilia del Valle feels like a return to form for Isabel Allende. The House of the Spirits is one of my favorite books and I've enjoyed many of Allende's earlier works especially Of Love and Shadows but had struggled for a while to get invested in her more recent books in the 2010s. I'd been meaning to try her newer books as I'd heard good things about Violeta when I saw she was releasing a new book this year.

We're once again learning about another del Valle woman's life in one of Allende's books with Emilia del Valle offering an interesting glimpse into a period of Chilean history that you don't often find in Anglo-Western books. The beginning of this novel was a slow start for me and didn't quite hook me until about a quarter of the way through but by then it was a pretty quick read as I was sucked into her story once Emilia reached Chile. We follow Emilia, a strong willed woman trying to thrive in spaces reserved for men, as she's grows up to be a penny drama novelist and later a journalist, working hard to be taken seriously as a writer in a time period when typically only men were established as serious authors. The relationships she forms with the vast cast of characters she interacts with makes for a very compelling story as the world is fleshed out both as the civil war unfolds and during its aftermath. Many of the secondary characters became people I wanted to know more about and the way information about them is revealed, while still maintaining Emilia as the main focus of the novel, works really well. The final storyline that wraps up in the epilogue left me a bit underwhelmed after the scope of the rest of the book - the novel felt a bit unfinished but at the same time, I understand how that fit into Emilia's recounting of her life within the story.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing me with an eArc for review, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to Random House Publishing for the ARC to My Name is Emilia Del Valle! Following a young woman becoming a writer in the late 1800’s, this book focuses on Emilia’s journey as an unapologetic and independent writer and journalist in a time when this was an unheard of path for a woman. Emilia was born to a nun and aristocratic Chilean out of wedlock. Molly, her mother, was left bitter and angry after the Chilean man used her for her body and left her. Emilia, beginning at age 17, publishes dime novels under a pen name until she gets toe chance to write for a paper. Eventually, she demands her own name be used when publishing her writing in the paper. Emilia gets the chance of a lifetime to go report on the Chilean civil war, where her father is also from. She witnessed terrible things, experiences the harsh reality of life on the battlefront, and writes all the while. This book was well written and captured my attention well. I loved following Emilia along on her journey through all of her trials and tribulations. I would definitely recommend this to fans of historical fiction!

“My name is Emilia del Valle” by Isabel Allende tells the story of Emilia, born in San Fransciso in the 1880s to a mother who had been about to take her vows to become a nun but had been seduced by a Chilean aristocrat who abandoned her. Emilia’s life could have been disastrous from the beginning, but her stepfather, a teacher who had always been in love with her mother, raised her with love and tenderness. Exceptionally smart, Emilia wrote dime novels under a male pen name and became a journalist, using the name she’d built up a reputation for. When the civil war in Chile begins, she and fellow journalist are sent to Chile to cover both the government and the rebel sides.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Isabel Allende, and this certainly did not disappoint. I learned so much about South American history I did not know. And I was reminded of the horrors of war, which thankfully, I have never had to experience firsthand. Nonethess, books like this are so important to people to read. The cruelty and inhumanity caused by greed cannot be underestimated.

I enjoyed this book, but I did feel the last ten percent of it dragged out. I think it probably could have ended sooner. Many thanks to Net Galley and to the publisher for an ARC of this novel.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

My Name is Emilia del Valle is vintage Isabel Allende—lush, sweeping, and utterly addictive. But it’s also refreshingly bold. Emilia is a whip-smart heroine who barrels through 19th-century expectations like a runaway press.

Born illegitimately to an Irish nun and a Chilean aristocrat, Emilia grows up defying convention. Her journey from dime store novelist to war correspondent is gripping enough, but it’s the layers beneath—the fractured family ties, the search for identity, the slow-burning love story with fellow journalist Eric Whelan—that give the novel its heart.

The battlefield scenes are vivid and unsparing, told through Emilia’s clear-eyed reporting. The horrors of war don’t overshadow the personal stakes, especially as she uncovers long-buried secrets about her father and her roots.

While I admired her guts and grit, I found myself wishing for more of her inner world. Even so, this is the kind of historical fiction that pulls you in and doesn’t let go. With rich characters, surprising turns, and Allende’s signature lyrical prose, Emilia del Valle might just be my favorite Allende novel yet.

** Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for a review copy. The opinions are my own.