Portrait in Sepia Read online

  —Newsweek

  ZORRO

  * * *

  Born in southern California late in the eighteenth century, Diego de la Vega is a child of two worlds. His father is an aristocratic Spanish military man turned landowner; his mother a Shoshone warrior. Diego learns from his maternal grandmother, White Owl, the ways of her tribe, while receiving from his father lessons in the art of fencing and in cattle branding. It is here, during a childhood filled with mischief and adventure, that Diego witnesses the brutal injustices dealt to Native Americans by European settlers and first feels the inner conflict of his heritage.

  At the age of sixteen, Diego is sent to Barcelona for a European education. In a country chafing under the corruption of Napoleonic rule, Diego follows the example of his celebrated fencing master and joins La Justicia, a secret underground resistance movement devoted to helping the powerless and the poor. With this tumultuous period as a backdrop, Diego falls in love, saves the persecuted, and confronts for the first time a great rival who emerges from the world of privilege.

  Between California and Barcelona, the New World and the Old, the persona of Zorro is formed, a great hero is born, and the legend begins. After many adventures—duels at dawn, fierce battles with pirates at sea, and impossible rescues—Diego de la Vega, aka Zorro, returns to America to reclaim the hacienda on which he was raised and to seek justice for all who cannot fight for it themselves.

  “Allende’s discreetly subversive talent really shows. . . . You turn the pages, cheering on the masked man.”

  —Los Angeles Times

  DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE

  * * *

  Orphan Eliza Sommers goes on a search for love, but ends up on a journey of self-discovery Brought up in the British colony of Valparaíso in Chile by the well-intentioned spinster Miss Rose (and her stuffier brother Jeremy), Eliza falls unsuitably in love with the humble but handsome clerk Joaquín. When he heads to California to take part in the 1849 Gold Rush Eliza follows him. But in the rough-and-tumble life of San Francisco our unconventional heroine finds that personal freedom might be a more rewarding choice than a traditional gold band on the wedding finger.

  “Brilliant.”

  —New York Times Book Review

  “Like a slow, seductive lover, Allende teases, tempts, and titillates with mesmerizing stories.”

  —Washington Post

  THE INFINITE PLAN

  * * *

  Selling more than 65,000 copies and topping bestseller lists around the world, The Infinite Plan tells the engrossing story of one man’s quest for love and for his soul. Gregory Reeves is the son of Charles, an itinerant preacher. As a boy Gregory accepts the endless journeying and poverty which is his family’s lot, never questioning the validity of his father’s homespun philosophy of life—the infinite plan. But as manhood approaches he finds himself possessed by a yearning to escape. Hankering after worldly wealth, he longs to break away from the teeming Hispanic barrio of downtown Los Angeles where his family has finally settled. Gregory’s quest, so different from his father’s, takes him first to law school at Berkeley, next to the killing fields of Vietnam, and then into a headlong (and hedonistic) pursuit of the American Dream.

  “Spellbinding. . . . Allende has caught the mood of our spiritually troubled times with uncanny precision and insight.”

  —Miami Herald

  APHRODITE: A MEMOIR OF THE SENSES

  * * *

  Under the aegis of the Goddess of Love, Isabel Allende uses her storytelling skills brilliantly in Aphrodite to evoke the delights of food and sex. After considerable research and study she has become an authority on aphrodisiacs, which include everything from food and drink to stories and, of course, love. Readers will find here recipes from Allende’s mother, poems, stories from ancient and foreign literature, paintings, personal anecdotes, fascinating tidbits on the sensual art of food and its effect on amorous performance, tips on how to attract your mate and revive flagging virility, passages on the effect of smell on libido, a history of alcoholic beverages, and much more.

  “Allende turns the joyous preparation and consumption of fine food into an erotic catalyst.”

  —New York Times Book Review

  MY INVENTED COUNTRY: A MEMOIR

  * * *

  Isabel Allende evokes the magnificent landscapes of her country, a charming, idiosyncratic Chilean people with a violent history and an indomitable spirit, and the politics, religion, myth, and magic of a homeland that she carries with her even today. The book circles around two life-changing moments. The assassination of her uncle Salvador Allende Gossens on September 11, 1973, sent her into exile and transformed her into a literary writer. And the terrorist attacks against her adopted homeland the United States on September 11, 2001, brought forth an overdue acknowledgment that Allende had indeed left home. My Invented Country, mimicking the workings of memory itself, ranges back and forth across that distance between past and present lives. It speaks compellingly to immigrants and to all of us who try to retain a coherent inner life in a world full of contradictions.

  “The book gets my undivided attention when it expounds on the relationship of the author to that country of hers, invented, imaginary, fictional, to the story of her family, which is itself invented memory, and to her vocation as a narrator.”

  —Los Angeles Times

  PAULA: A MEMOIR

  * * *

  With an enchanting blend of magic realism, politics, and romance reminiscent of her classic bestseller The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende presents a soul-baring memoir that seizes the reader like a novel of suspense.

  Written for her daughter Paula when she became ill and slipped into a coma, Paula is the colorful story of Allende’s life—from her early years in her native Chile, through the turbulent military coup of 1973, to the subsequent dictatorship and her family’s years of exile. In the telling, bizarre ancestors reveal themselves, delightful and bitter childhood memories surface, enthralling anecdotes of youthful years are narrated, and intimate secrets are softly whispered.

  In an exorcism of death and a celebration of life, Isabel Allende explores the past and questions the gods. She creates a magical book that carries the reader from tears to laughter, and from terror through sensuality to wisdom. In Paula, readers will come to understand that the miraculous world of her novels is the world Isabel Allende inhabits—it is her enchanted reality.

  “Spellbinding. . . . In flawlessly rich prose, [Allende] shares with us her most intimate feelings.”

  —Washington Post Book World

  THE SUM OF OUR DAYS

  * * *

  In The Sum of Our Days, internationally acclaimed author Isabel Allende reconstructs the painful reality of her own life in the wake of the tragic death of her daughter, Paula. Narrated with warmth, humor, exceptional candor, and wisdom, this remarkable memoir is as exuberant and full of life as its creator. Allende bares her soul as she shares her thoughts on love, marriage, motherhood, spirituality and religion, infidelity, addiction, and memory—and recounts stories of the wildly eccentric, strong-minded, and eclectic tribe she gathers around her and lovingly embraces as a family.

  “Terrific. . . . Funny, insightful, moving, and filled with Allende’s unique voice.”

  —USA Today

  The Jaguar and Eagle Trilogy

  CITY OF THE BEASTS

  * * *

  Riveting reading for Allende fans young and old, ecothriller City of the Beasts takes fifteen-year-old Alexander Cold on the trip of a lifetime. Parting from his family and ill mother, Alexander joins his fearless grandmother, a magazine reporter for International Geographic, on an expedition to the remote and dangerous world of the Amazon. Their mission, along with the others on their team—including a celebrated anthropologist, a local guide and his young daughter Nadia, and a doctor—is to document the legendary Beast of the Amazon.

  Alexander is amazed to discover under the dense jungle canopy much more than he could have imagined abo
ut the hidden worlds of the rain forest. Drawing on the strength of the jaguar, the totemic animal Alexander finds within himself, and the eagle, Nadia’s spirit guide, both young people are led by the invisible People of the Mist on a thrilling and unforgettable journey to the ultimate discovery.

  “Part thrilling survival adventure, part coming-of-age journey. . . . Blends magical realism with grim history and contemporary politics in a way that shakes up all the usual definitions of savagery and civilization.”

  —Booklist (starred review)

  KINGDOM OF THE GOLDEN DRAGON

  * * *

  Not many months have passed since teenager Alexander Cold followed his bold grandmother into the heart of the Amazon to uncover its legendary Beast. This time reporter Kate Cold escorts her grandson and his closest friend Nadia, along with the photographers from International Geographic, on a journey to another remote niche of the world—this time in the Himalayas. The team’s task is to locate its fabled Golden Dragon, a sacred statue and priceless oracle that can foretell the future of the kingdom.

  In their scramble to reach the statue before it is destroyed by the greed of an outsider, Alexander and Nadia must use the transcendent power of their totemic animal spirits: Jaguar and Eagle. With the aid of a sage Buddhist monk, his young royal disciple, and a fierce tribe of Yeti warriors, Alexander and Nadia fight to protect the holy rule of the Golden Dragon.

  Imagining this Utopian land and animating Buddhist beliefs is clearly fun for Allende, and her joy translates onto the page.”

  —San Francisco Chronicle

  FOREST OF THE PYGMIES

  * * *

  Alexander Cold knows all too well that his grandmother Kate is never far from an adventure. When International Geographic commissions her to write an article about the first elephant-led safaris in Africa, they head—with Nadia Santos and the magazine’s photography crew—to the blazing red plains of Kenya. Days into the tour a Catholic missionary approaches their camp in search of his companions, who have mysteriously disappeared. Kate, Alexander, Nadia, and their team, agreeing to aid in the rescue, enlist the help of a local pilot to lead them to the swampy forests of Ngoubé. There they discover a clan of Pygmies who unveil a harsh and surprising world of corruption, slavery, and poaching. Alexander and Nadia, utilizing the magical strengths of their totemic animal spirits, Jaguar and Eagle, launch a spectacular and precarious struggle to restore freedom and return leadership to its rightful hands.

  “Captures the romance of exotic travel. . . . Has at least two things Allende’s adult fiction is known for: passion and politics.”

  —Philadelphia Inquirer

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  PRAISE FOR

  PORTRAIT IN SEPIA

  “A storyteller of resounding wit and gusto, Allende’s . . . passion is for her indefatigable, eccentric characters. . . . Portrait is allusive, sensuous, often blisteringly atmospheric and turbulent with secrets and self-discovery. . . . [It] moves, thrills, and delights.”

  —Miami Herald

  “Spectacular storytelling. . . . The author’s elaborate skill in weaving intimate emotional detail into the broad canvas of history is in fantastic display.”

  —Atlanta Journal-Constitution

  “Allende’s imagination is a spectacle unto itself—she infects her readers with her own colossal dreams.”

  —Book magazine

  “Rich and complex. . . .Allende exercises her supreme storytelling abilities, of which strong, passionate characters are paramount. . . .A grand installment in an already impressive repertoire.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  A vision. . . .Rich in tones, shadows, and light. . . .Allende’s eloquently layered descriptions breathe life into her characters.”

  —People magazine

  “Complex, intriguing, ambitious. . . . It’s Allende’s remarkable flair for character that makes it all come alive.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Allende’s craft and skill at storytelling, her temperance and restraint, and the straightforwardness and honesty of her prose shape [Portrait in Sepia] into an engaging novel.”

  —St. Petersburg Times

  ALSO BY ISABEL ALLENDE

  The House of the Spirits

  Of Love and Shadows

  Eva Luna

  The Stories of Eva Luna

  The Infinite Plan

  Paula

  Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses

  Daughter of Fortune

  My Invented Country

  Zorro

  Inés of My Soul

  The Sum of Our Days

  Island Beneath the Sea

  The Jaguar and Eagle Trilogy

  City of the Beasts

  Kingdom of the Golden Dragon

  Forest of the Pygmies

  COPYRIGHT

  A hardcover edition of this book was published in 2001 by HarperCollins Publishers

  P.S.TM is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.

  PORTRAIT IN SEPIA. Copyright © 2014 by Isabel Allende. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  FIRST PERENNIAL EDITION PUBLISHED 2002.

  FIRST HARPER PERENNIAL EDITION PUBLISHED 2006.

  FIRST HARPER PERENNIAL MODERN CLASSICSDELUXE EDITION PUBLISHED 2010.

  The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows: Allende, Isabel.

  [Retrato en sepia. English]

  Portrait in sepia / by Isabel Allende ; translated from the Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden.—1st ed.

  p. cm

  ISBN 0-06-621161-1

  EPub Edition March 2014 ISBN 9780062254436

  1.Peden, Margaret Sayers. II. Title.

  PQ8098.1.L54R 4813 2001

  863'.64—dc1

  00-054127

  ISBN 978-0-06-199153-0 (deluxe edition)

  10 11 12 13 14 ID/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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