Born into a poor family in Spain, Inés, a seamstress, finds herself condemned to a life of hard work without reward or hope for the future. It is the sixteenth century, the beginning of the Spanish conquest of the Americas, and when her shiftless husband disappears to the New World, Inés uses the opportunity to search for him as an excuse to flee her stifling homeland and seek adventure. After her treacherous journey takes her to Peru, she learns that her husband has died in battle. Soon she begins a fiery love affair with a man who will change the course of her life: Pedro de Valdivia, war hero and field marshal to the famed Francisco Pizarro.
Valdivia's dream is to succeed where other Spaniards have failed: to become the conquerer of Chile. The natives of Chile are fearsome warriors, and the land is rumored to be barren of gold, but this suits Valdivia, who seeks only honor and glory. Together the lovers Inés Suárez and Pedro de Valdivia will build the new city of Santiago, and they will wage a bloody, ruthless war against the indigenous Chileans—the fierce local Indians led by the chief Michimalonko, and the even fiercer Mapuche from the south. The horrific struggle will change them forever, pulling each of them toward their separate destinies.
Inés of My Soul is a work of breathtaking scope: meticulously researched, it engagingly dramatizes the known events of Inés Suárez's life, crafting them into a novel full of the narrative brilliance and passion readers have come to expect from Isabel Allende.
Brown has created something of a cottage industry in performing Isabel Allende's novels. And it's no wonder that she's chosen for these meaty roles: the Emmy-winning actress brings a pitch-perfect sensibility to Allende's lyrical prose and wild, almost charmed, settings. In this case, Allende turns from magical realism to historical reality in embroidering the story of Inés Suarez (1507–1580), the spirited conquistadora who helped found the nation of Chile. Brown not only captures Inés's fortitude and determination but also her humor. She keeps the pacing relatively quick despite the novel's length and does justice to the impressive array of characters, although some of the soldiers' voices are less distinctive than those of the comparatively few female characters. Brown's intonation, with its softened consonants and beautiful, rounded accent, can transport listeners to a different time and place, and her pronunciation of Spanish words is dead-on. Each disc sets the mood with the music of—what else?—Spanish guitar. This audiobook is a meaty empanada filled with delights. Simultaneous release with the HarperCollins hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 21). (Dec.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
Isabel Allende is the author of nine novels, translated into more than twenty-seven languages, including the New York Times bestsellers Inés of My Soul, Portrait in Sepia, and Daughter of Fortune. In 2004 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Born in Peru and raised in Chile, she lives in California.
Nacida en Perú y criada en Chile, Isabel Allende es la autora de nueve novelas incluyendo más recientemente Zorro, Retrato en Sepia, Hija de la Fortuna e Inés del Alma Mía. También ha escrito cuentos cortos, tres libros autobiográficos incluyendo Mi País Inventado y Paula, y una trilogía de libros para jóvenes. Sus libros han sido traducidos a más de 27 idiomas y son bestsellers a través del mundo entero. En 2004, fue nombrada a la Academia de Artes y Letras de los Estados Unidos. Vive en California.
Out of letters to family back in Chile came the manuscript that was to become Allende's first novel. Her arrival on the publishing scene in 1985 with The House of the Spirits was instantly recognized as a literary event. The New York Times called it "a unique achievement, both personal witness and possible allegory of the past, present and future of Latin America."
To read a book by Allende is to believe in (or be persuaded of) the power of transcendence, spiritual and otherwise. Her characters are often what she calls "marginal," those who strive to live on the fringes of society. It may be someone like Of Love and Shadows 's Hipolito Ranquileo, who makes his living as a circus clown; or Eva Luna, a poor orphan who is the center of two Allende books (Eva Luna and The Stories of Eva Luna).
Allende's characters have in common an inner fortitude that proves stronger than their adversity, and a sense of lineage that propels them both forward and backward. When you meet a central character in an Allende novel, be prepared to meet a few generations of his or her family. This multigenerational thread drives The House of the Spirits, the tale of the South American Trueba family. Not only did the novel draw Allende critical accolades (with such breathless raves as "spectacular," "astonishing" and "mesmerizing" from major reviewers), it landed her firmly in the magic realist tradition of predecessor (and acknowledged influence) Gabriel García Márquez. Some of its characters also reappeared in the historical novels Portrait in Sepia and Daughter of Fortune.
"It's strange that my work has been classified as magic realism," Allende has said, "because I see my novels as just being realistic literature." Indeed, much of what might be considered "magic" to others is real to Allende, who based the character Clara del Valle in The House of the Spirits on her own reputedly clairvoyant grandmother. And she has drawn as well upon the political violence that visited her life: Of Love and Shadows (1987) centers on a political crime in Chile, and other Allende books allude to the ideological divisions that affected the author so critically.
But all of her other work was "rehearsal," says Allende, for what she considers her most difficult and personal book. Paula is written for Allende's daughter, who died in 1992 after several months in a coma. Like Allende's fiction, it tells Paula's story through that of Allende's own and of her relatives. Allende again departed from fiction in Aphrodite, a book that pays homage to the romantic powers of food (complete with recipes for two such as "Reconciliation Soup"). The book's lighthearted subject matter had to have been a necessity for Allende, who could not write for nearly three years after the draining experience of writing Paula.
Whichever side of reality she is on, Allende's voice is unfailingly romantic and life-affirming, creating mystery even as she uncloaks it. Like a character in Of Love and Shadows, Allende tells "stories of her own invention whose aim [is] to ease suffering and make time pass more quickly," and she succeeds.
Allende begins all of her books on January 8, which she considers lucky because it was the day she began writing a letter to her dying grandfather that later became The House of the Spirits.
She began her career as a journalist, editing the magazine Paula and later contributing to the Venezuelan paper El Nacional.
Chapter One
Europe 1500-1537
I am Inés Suárez, a townswoman of the loyal city of Santiago de Nueva Extremadura in the Kingdom of Chile, writing in the year of Our Lord 1580. I am not sure of the exact date of my birth, but according to my mother I was born following the famine and deadly plague that ravaged Spain upon the death of Philip the Handsome. I do not believe that the death of the king provoked the plague, as people said as they watched the progress of the funeral cortège, which left the odor of bitter almonds floating in the air for days, but one never knows. Queen Juana, still young and beautiful, traveled across Castile for more than two years, carrying her husband's catafalque from one side of the country to the other, opening it from time to time to kiss her husband's lips, hoping that he would revive.
Despite the embalmer's emollients, The Handsome stank. When I came into the world, the unlucky queen, by then royally insane, was secluded in the palace at Tordesillas with the corpse of her consort. That means that my heart has beaten for at least seventy winters, and that I am destined to die before this Christmas. I could say that a Gypsy on the shores of the Río Jerte divined the date of my death, but that would be one of those untruths one reads in a book and then, because it is in print, appears to be true. All theGypsy did was predict a long life for me, which they always do in return for a coin. It is my reckless heart that tells me that the end is near.
I always knew that I would die an old woman, in peace and in my bed, like all the women of my family. That is why I never hesitated to confront danger, since no one is carried off to the other world before the appointed hour. "You will be dying a little old woman, I tell you, señorayyy," Catalina would reassure me--her pleasant Peruvian Spanish trailing out the word--when the obstinate galloping hoof beats I felt in my chest drove me to the ground. I have forgotten Catalina's Quechua name, and now it is too late to ask because I buried her in the patio of my house many years ago, but I have absolute faith in the precision and veracity of her prophecies. Catalina entered my service in the ancient city of Cuzco, the jewel of the Incas, during the era of Francisco Pizarro, that fearless bastard who, if one listens to loose tongues, once herded pigs in Spain and ended up as the Marqués Gobernador of Peru, crushed by his ambition and multiple betrayals.
Such are the ironies of this new world of the Americas, where traditional laws have no bearing, and society is completely scrambled: saints and sinners, Whites, Blacks, Browns, Indians, Mestizos, nobles, and peasants. Any one among us can find himself in chains, branded with red-hot iron, and the next day be elevated by a turn of fortune. I have lived more than forty years in the New World and still I am not accustomed to the lack of order, though I myself have benefited from it. Had I stayed in the town of my birth I would today be an old, old woman, poor, and blind from tatting so much lace by the light of a candle. There I would be Inés, the seamstress on the street of the aqueduct. Here I am doña Inés Suárez, a highly placed señora, widow of The Most Excellent Gobernador don Rodrigo de Quiroga, conquistador and founder of the Kingdom of Chile.
So, I am at least seventy years old, as I was saying, years well-lived, but my soul and my heart, still caught in a fissure of my youth, wonder what devilish thing has happened to my body. When I look at myself in my silver mirror, Rodrigo's first gift to me when we were wed, I do not recognize the grandmother with a crown of white hair who looks back at me. Who is that person mocking the true Inés? I look more closely, with the hope of finding in the depths of the mirror the girl with braids and scraped knees I once was, the young girl who escaped to the back gardens to make love, the mature and passionate woman who slept wrapped in Rodrigo de Quiroga's arms. They are all crouching back there, I am sure, but I cannot seem to see them. I do not ride my mare any longer, or wear my coat of mail and my sword, but it is not for lack of spirit--that I have always had more than enough of--it is only because my body has betrayed me. I have very little strength, my joints hurt, my bones are icy, and my sight is hazy. Without my scribe's spectacles, which I had sent from Peru, I would not be able to write these pages. I wanted to go with Rodrigo--may God hold him in his Holy Bosom--in his last battle against the Mapuche nation, but he would not let me. He laughed. "You are very old for that, Inés." "No more than you," I replied, although that wasn't true, he was several younger than I. We believed we would never see each other again but we made our good-byes without tears, certain that we would be reunited in the next life. I had known for some time that Rodrigo's days were numbered, even though he did everything he could to hide it. He never complained, but bore the pain with clenched teeth, and only the cold sweat on his brow betrayed his suffering.
He was feverish when he set off, and had a suppurating pustule on one leg that all my remedies and prayers had not cured. He was going to fulfil his desire to die like a soldier, in the heat of combat, not flat on his back in bed like an old man. I, on the other hand, wanted to be with him to hold his head at that last instant, and to tell him how much I cherished the love he had lavished on me throughout our long lives.
Excerpted from Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende Copyright © 2006 by Isabel Allende. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Chapter One
Europe 1500-1537
I am Inés Suárez, a townswoman of the loyal city of Santiago de Nueva Extremadura in the Kingdom of Chile, writing in the year of Our Lord 1580. I am not sure of the exact date of my birth, but according to my mother I was born following the famine and deadly plague that ravaged Spain upon the death of Philip the Handsome. I do not believe that the death of the king provoked the plague, as people said as they watched the progress of the funeral cortège, which left the odor of bitter almonds floating in the air for days, but one never knows. Queen Juana, still young and beautiful, traveled across Castile for more than two years, carrying her husband's catafalque from one side of the country to the other, opening it from time to time to kiss her husband's lips, hoping that he would revive.
Despite the embalmer's emollients, The Handsome stank. When I came into the world, the unlucky queen, by then royally insane, was secluded in the palace at Tordesillas with the corpse of her consort. That means that my heart has beaten for at least seventy winters, and that I am destined to die before this Christmas. I could say that a Gypsy on the shores of the Río Jerte divined the date of my death, but that would be one of those untruths one reads in a book and then, because it is in print, appears to be true. All the Gypsy did was predict a long life for me, which they always do in return for a coin. It is my reckless heart that tells me that the end is near.
I always knew that I would die an old woman, in peace and in my bed, like all the women of my family. That iswhy I never hesitated to confront danger, since no one is carried off to the other world before the appointed hour. "You will be dying a little old woman, I tell you, señorayyy," Catalina would reassure me--her pleasant Peruvian Spanish trailing out the word—when the obstinate galloping hoof beats I felt in my chest drove me to the ground. I have forgotten Catalina's Quechua name, and now it is too late to ask because I buried her in the patio of my house many years ago, but I have absolute faith in the precision and veracity of her prophecies. Catalina entered my service in the ancient city of Cuzco, the jewel of the Incas, during the era of Francisco Pizarro, that fearless bastard who, if one listens to loose tongues, once herded pigs in Spain and ended up as the Marqués Gobernador of Peru, crushed by his ambition and multiple betrayals.
Such are the ironies of this new world of the Americas, where traditional laws have no bearing, and society is completely scrambled: saints and sinners, Whites, Blacks, Browns, Indians, Mestizos, nobles, and peasants. Any one among us can find himself in chains, branded with red-hot iron, and the next day be elevated by a turn of fortune. I have lived more than forty years in the New World and still I am not accustomed to the lack of order, though I myself have benefited from it. Had I stayed in the town of my birth I would today be an old, old woman, poor, and blind from tatting so much lace by the light of a candle. There I would be Inés, the seamstress on the street of the aqueduct. Here I am doña Inés Suárez, a highly placed señora, widow of The Most Excellent Gobernador don Rodrigo de Quiroga, conquistador and founder of the Kingdom of Chile.
So, I am at least seventy years old, as I was saying, years well-lived, but my soul and my heart, still caught in a fissure of my youth, wonder what devilish thing has happened to my body. When I look at myself in my silver mirror, Rodrigo's first gift to me when we were wed, I do not recognize the grandmother with a crown of white hair who looks back at me. Who is that person mocking the true Inés? I look more closely, with the hope of finding in the depths of the mirror the girl with braids and scraped knees I once was, the young girl who escaped to the back gardens to make love, the mature and passionate woman who slept wrapped in Rodrigo de Quiroga's arms. They are all crouching back there, I am sure, but I cannot seem to see them. I do not ride my mare any longer, or wear my coat of mail and my sword, but it is not for lack of spirit—that I have always had more than enough of—it is only because my body has betrayed me. I have very little strength, my joints hurt, my bones are icy, and my sight is hazy. Without my scribe's spectacles, which I had sent from Peru, I would not be able to write these pages. I wanted to go with Rodrigo—may God hold him in his Holy Bosom—in his last battle against the Mapuche nation, but he would not let me. He laughed. "You are very old for that, Inés." "No more than you," I replied, although that wasn't true, he was several younger than I. We believed we would never see each other again but we made our good-byes without tears, certain that we would be reunited in the next life. I had known for some time that Rodrigo's days were numbered, even though he did everything he could to hide it. He never complained, but bore the pain with clenched teeth, and only the cold sweat on his brow betrayed his suffering.
He was feverish when he set off, and had a suppurating pustule on one leg that all my remedies and prayers had not cured. He was going to fulfil his desire to die like a soldier, in the heat of combat, not flat on his back in bed like an old man. I, on the other hand, wanted to be with him to hold his head at that last instant, and to tell him how much I cherished the love he had lavished on me throughout our long lives.
Ines of My SoulAnonymous
Posted December 12, 2012
Ines of my soul written by Isabel Allende is about a girl named Ines Suarez. She was born into a poor family in Spain, a seamstress girl, finds herself condemned to a life of hard work without reward or hope for the future. Her husband left to Peru and doesn’t come back for a while and she decides that she wants to get out and explore more so she uses the excuse that she was trying to find him but really just wants to have an adventure. So Ines goes with her niece Constantine.
In search of her husband she hears news about something that changed her life forever. After being in Peru for a while Ines meets a man named Pedro Valdivia. She falls madly in love with him and soon after they get married. He was a war hero and field marshal to Francisco Pizarro. So, together Ines and Pedro build a new city of Santiago and start a ruthless war against indigenous Chileans. They both encounter horrible struggles that later pull them farther apart than ever before.
I thought this book was pretty good as a first time reader of a book written by and about Hispanic stories it was very interesting. This book was about love and adventure which are my favorite types of books to read. I mostly would recommend this book to young teens and women. Guys honestly would mostly likely find it cheesy and boring. In the beginning I thought it was kind of slow and didn’t make much sense to me but as I kept going more and more thoughts came about in my mind that kept me literally on the edge of my seat. So, yes I do like this book and I do recommend it to people who love romance and adventures.
Anonymous
Posted December 15, 2010
Ines of My Soul, written by Isabel Allende, is a novel written about a young woman, who lived in the 1500's, named Ines Suarez. Ines ventures away from her home town Plasencia, Spain to go in search of her husband Juan de Malaga. Juan has left her, because of his loss of marital lust soon after there marriage and also to search for El Dorado, the lost city of gold. Ines, now sentenced to be a "widow of the new world", is to strong of woman to sit around for the rest of her life, sentenced to nothing but her skill of sewing and cooking. In thinking about her personal needs, Ines decides that she should venture to Peru with her niece, Constanza.
After Ines and her niece arrive in Peru, she gets into a fight with a man, which ends in his death. Ines is very regretful of this action because now she is a wanted woman of this unknown land. When on the run, Ines meets a man named Pedro de Valdivia, in which she falls in love with immediately after their first meeting. It is after this that she decides to go on a great adventure with Pedro scaling over a large Chilean desert and coming in contact with the Mapuche Indians, who are ruled by chief Michimalonko. This novel tells the tails of great warriors, the hardships and also prosperities which you can reach with your heart set to what it wants.
I did not like this novel although because it deserves a very strong and happy ending, which is not the case. I will say that the rest of the novel was strongly written although because once into it, it got me on the edge of my seat to turn the pages to see what may lie on the other side. If it had not been for the dreary ending, this would definatley be on my recommendation list for anyone who likes a good read about love and adventure.
Beegle
Posted April 1, 2009
Although it was very brutal, I liked learning about the Spanish conquests in the Americas and Chile in particular. The book got off to a good start, but turned into more of a historical narative than a novel. I thought it was not up to Allende standard.
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Posted March 9, 2009
This book reminded me of why I am a fan of Allende's. Her writing flows. Her characters breathe. The story line never falters. All this, and a touch of the mystical besides! Loved it!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.cherrymoon13
Posted November 26, 2008
If you like historical novels then this one is a 5 star choice. What an amazing book. Wow. The story, plot, characters, actual history, etc. You are almost literally transported into the book with such detail and accuracy of description. Ines' story is one every female should know about. (Though I do feel like the author actually downplayed her a bit in comparison to what I've read about her elsewhere. And it just bugged me that the cover girl who's supposed to be Ines is obviously of indian/native american decent which is stupid because the main character is from spain!)<BR/>But the book was stupendous. Could not put it down and finished it in record time.
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Posted December 18, 2007
To be straight to the point, Ines of my Soul felt like reading a 10th grade History text book on the Spanish colonies in the New World. While Allende goes into great depth in describing the locations Ines visits, and the people she meets, sometimes the depth goes a bit too far, and becomes more of a hassle than an image generator. The novel blends historical battles, and wars of conquest and, with the love life of Ines, to the point that it becomes a rather repulsive to read. The parts telling of her involvement in the Spanish conquests of South America drag on and become tedious to read, while the parts detailing her love life are a little too detailed for a casual reader like myself. This book would be a fine read for any fan of historical, or romantic novels, if they can deal with the other side of it. If not, stay away from this book.
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Posted December 9, 2007
I love Isabel Allende's work. Once again she has satisfied my expectations with an interesting, hard to put down novel. If you are into romance and history, you'll love her intricate plots and colorful characters.
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Posted August 23, 2007
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found Ines to be a very rich and warm main character.
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Posted February 1, 2007
I did not enjoy this book as much as I did Daughter of Fortune but that doesn¿t mean that this book is not interesting. Many times I felt that the main character¿s story became secondary to the historical accounts of the conquering of Chile. Ines of My Soul is very interesting especially if you like to read about history.
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Posted January 26, 2007
After reading Zorro (by Mrs. Allende) I was expecting Ines of my soul to be a good read (as other novels she had written) but ended up with a not so good taste in my mouth. It is engaging and entertaining at the beginning which is short, then you go into boring details of characters followed by war episodes that are extremely long and repetitive, so much that the main characters lose strength. You end up feeling this book title should have been 'The war between Spaniards and Mapuches' It is said that Ines Suarez was the only Spanish woman conqueror in Chile's history and this novel does not fortify or diminish her image, it comes across as a plain, flat account.
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Posted January 4, 2007
Isabel Allende continues to amaze me with her novels. Like all of her works, Inés of my Soul transposes the reader right into the story and gives you an account of the founding of the Kingdom of Chile. It is true, that in trying to keep with the accuracy of history, the novel at times can become slightly repetitive and bore down with detail, but at the same time creates a surreal account of the life of Inés Suarez and the other founders of Chile that is still full of human emotion that I could just not stop reading. Over all, an incredible book that I would recommend to anyone, especially those that enjoys Allende¿s work or history.
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Posted September 12, 2010
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Overview
Born into a poor family in Spain, Inés, a seamstress, finds herself condemned to a life of hard work without reward or hope for the future. It is the sixteenth century, the beginning of the Spanish conquest of the Americas, and when her shiftless husband disappears to the New World, Inés uses the opportunity to search for him as an excuse to flee her stifling homeland and seek adventure. After her treacherous journey takes her to Peru, she learns that her husband has died in battle. Soon she begins a fiery love ...