For fans of Isabel Allende, quality fiction in general, and historical fiction in particular, The Long Petal of the Sea (to be published in early 2020) is another stunning work by an amazing author.

Allende’s books do what my favorites do: they teach while they entertain. A Long Petal of the Sea follows a young pregnant widow named Roser, who flees Spain following the overthrow of the government by Franco and the Fascists. In order to survive, she marries her deceased lover’s brother, an. Army doctor named Victor Dalmau, whose lack of desire for this sham marriage is equal to Roser’s. They endure a harrowing trip over the mountains toward France and, along with a couple of thousand other refugees, they get on a boat bound for Chile, the country that was described by poet Pablo Neruda as “a long petal of sea, wine and snow.”

They start their lives over as exiles, and spend years enduring one thing after another as they wait and hope for a return to Spain – a longing that sustains them over the years. It’s a family saga, a political commentary, a love story, and a history all rolled into one big ball of entertainment. Thanks to Random House/Ballantine Books and NetGalley, I received a copy in exchange for my honest review. Five stars (and I can’t wait to hear the author when she comes to speak at Bookshop Santa Cruz, as she generally does when a new book is released).