a b c Fellows, Amy. “Love, Violet.” School Library Journal, vol. 68, no. 1, Jan. 2022, p. 57. EBSCOhost. The story is that of 100-year-old Violeta's life, written for her grandson. It takes us from her childhood raised by an Irish governess somewhere in South America (never said where but contains oblique references to pandemics and military takeovers) to her marriage, an abusive relationship and the arrival of her two children.

Isabel Allende, Chilean author and journalist was born in 1942 in Lima, Peru. She is a tiny gorgeous spitfire….. Kris Barlow and her young daughter, Sadie, have just suffered the traumatic loss of their husband/father in an accident. While Kris' feelings are understandably and realistically torn between her own emotions, finances, and adjustment, she also has to shoulder the grief of her daughter. This is the most challenging, as Sadie lapses into a near-silent, joyless existence--no longer the carefree, fun-loving child she used to be. This sweeping novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea tells the epic story of Violeta del Valle, a woman whose life spans one hundred years and bears witness to the greatest upheavals of the twentieth century.As WW2 comes to an end, Violet lays in a hospital bed recovering from the loss of her pregnancy and the realisation that she can no longer have children. With her husband deployed and her friends preoccupied, she must try to regain some of her former self whilst also attempting to accept her new fate alone. For me, book number 7 from the Desmond Elliott long list, a prize for debut novels. As an aside, this is proving to be a very strong list which I am enjoying reading.

However, the decades between her last summer there, and their current visit, have not been so kind to the dying town. Thank You Isabel Allende and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books, for sending me this ebook through NetGalley. Lucinda and Abel Rivas were the parents of the governess, Miss Taylor, who were kind to host the De Valle family….when they needed to ‘exile’ ….[readers will learn - why - and ‘what happened’ is interesting and compelling.

Violet Book Issue 7

Then there were the descriptions of the house overlooking Lost Lake in general and of the cleaning process. Kris and Sadie need to make the neglected house habitable and the cleaning process was described in such detail that I was tempted to go clean my own home just so I could stop reading about it. The lake house had helped Kris get through one of the most awful summers of her life. It could do the same for Sadie. I hate that I felt like I was slogging my way through this book. The tidbits that teased of what was to come would usually have me hooked, poring over every word to make sure I didn’t miss any clues, but it didn’t work that way for me here. I didn’t feel like the story truly started until almost 70% and by then I was drained. Leith Clark is the founder of Violet Book, a biannual printed magazine and constantly updated online version, which describes itself as ‘a space for powerful femininity to be investigated, celebrated’. Though that’s only one part of what Leith does. There is richness to the themes, poignancy to the story, tragedy experienced by many of the characters and beauty in the writing. Another fabulous book by Isabelle Allende. Violeta was a fascinating woman. She starts as a child of privilege, but after her father loses everything, she’s forced to learn to make due in a rural setting in a remote part of the country. She’s got a wild streak, a desire to do and see it all, to be her own woman. She’s also a passionate woman. She was so realistic I had to remind myself not to be so distressed by her often violent relationship with Julian Bravo, her lover of many years. I definitely recommend this book to those who want to read a gripping literary horror novel. This might even be a perfect gateway book for those who prefer literary works and are hoping to explore the horror genre.