304 Pages
Harper Collins
ISBN: 0066211611
$26.00
Like much of her other work, Isabel Allende's Portrait in Sepia is a multi-generational epic, heightened by its lush detail, beautiful story, and wonderful characterization.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Paulina De Valle is the matriarch of San Francisco society, fighting visciously to maintain the integrity of her family, despite her husband's affair and her son's philandering. When her son, and his cousin Severo, become involved with a doomed Lynn Sommers, a girl of Chinese and American descent, Paulina takes custody of her grand-daughter Aurora, taking her back to her native Chile. Aurora De Valle grows up amid the customs of her Chilean heritage, watched over by the firm hand of Paulina. We follow Aurora as she observes those around her with a photographic eye--her stalwart grand-mother, her dying estranged father, her feminist Aunt Nivea. She developes a talent for photography, a habit which separated her from the other Chilean women.
The most enchanting thing about this novel is its characterization. Allende masterfully maintains each charcter at an enchanting pitch throughout the novel. As always, there is a richness and depth to her description of the Chilean culture and countryside. The novel is also about the unveiling of the past. Aurora is haunted by the first five years of her life, a time hidden from her memory and hinting of some great trauma involving her Chinese grand-father. Most of all, Portrait in Sepia is a coming-of-age novel, charting Aurora De Valle's growth through childhood idealism and her maturity, making the novel a wonderful exploration.