Isabel Allende has been on my TBR pile for so long and once I read The House of Spirits I couldn’t believe how long I waited. I read this together with my sister and every chapter had plenty to discuss.

The book tells of three generations, leading the reader to love and feel attached to the characters’ growth and coming of age. It takes place in pre-WWI in Chile, it is written in my favorite genre ✨ magical realism ✨ , the beginning of the novel does have some disturbing scenes as the patriarch, Esteban, has his sexual desires untamed and leads to sexual assault of Pancha, which produces a son. Esteban the entire novel is a ruthless and abusive of his family as well as the people who work for him. The dynamic between him and his wife, Clara, the main character is a most alluring part of them novel. Being faced with marriage to a possessive and relentless man, Clara maintains her power by remaining resolute and finding her own irreplaceable place in the household. She is not afraid of Esteban and he very well knows it and to me this fuels his love/obsession for Clara. So much so that he exiles his sister, Ferula, after he becomes jealous of the attention she bestows upon Clara. The last generation we meet is Esteban and Clara’s daughter, Alba, who is a revolutionary at the start of WWI.

The book features themes of war, love, death, abuse of power, sexual assault, and clairvoyance.

The House of Spirits as well as Of Love & Shadows are both on the 1001 BYMRBYD list