I expected to like this book as I'm a fan of Isabel Allende's writing and the strong women she writes about but it surpassed my expectations. It is the remarkable story of a remarkable woman. Emilia del Valle is uninhibited by the constraints of 19th century society and becomes a journalist. She travels to Chile with a colleague to report on weapon smuggling and finds herself involved in impending conflict. The author blends history with Emilia's personal journey in the most perfect way. Her story is full of adventure, human connection and unexpected turns. She experiences great pain and great love and the reader experiences it all with her. I was engrossed from start to finish. Foe the history and the compelling journey, this is a book which should be on everyone's summer reading list

Strong women
This is a book about Emilia and her complex life. Emilia is born to a young woman who wanted to be a nun, she was beautiful and seduced by a rich young man who then abandoned her, she marries her good friend and teacher who brings up Emilia as his daughter, the couple later have three sons. Her Father encourages her to write so she writes cheap novels under his name, they are a success. She longs to be a journalist and persuades an Editor to give her a job, she works beside Eric who also encourages her. She is sent to Cuba and has an affair with Eric's brother Owen, when she returns she finds out he is married. Emilia and Eric are sent to report on the civil war in Cuba between the Government and the rebels, she helps out in Concon working as a canteen girl, treating soldiers, feeding troops and seeing the horrors of war. Upon seeing Eric again the couple realise they are in love and manage to be together. Emilia is rescued by Angelita her friend when troops take revenge on opposing army. The government troops are defeated by the rebels and bloody revenge is taken by them. Emilia is arrested and taken to prison, she is badly beaten and sentenced to die by firing squad, she narrowly escapes with her life,
Emilia is taken in by her real Father's Aunt who is rich and formidable, Emilia gradually regains her strength, her Father has left her some land in a remote location, she journeys to find it.
I liked the story of Emilia' upbringing and her struggles to be recognised, the complicated political situation was sometimes hard to follow.
Thank you Isabel. NetGalley and Bloomsbury for this ARC

This is a beautifully written book about a feisty, determined woman who pursues a career in writing and journalism and who goes to Chile to report on the civil war. There is humour, horror, family in all its versions, love and the warmth of the fiercely proud Chilean people, ALL of them, not just "recent" arrivals. The writing cannot be faulted. My only criticism is that I have read this type of story before and would have loved to read a story from a different angle written by an author with Isabel Allende's skills. That said I am very glad to have read this book, and would have no hesitation in recommending it.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to reading this. I even decided to read some of Allende’s previous works as I haven’t gotten around to reading any so far. But I had to stop reading that one (there was a very violent rape).

Then I decided to just delve into the story of Emilia, and lo and behold, the same thing happened! So I guess either I picked the two Allende books that start with rape or that Allende just isn’t for me. Considering I didn’t like the writing style all that much, I fear the latter is true.

Emilia Del Valle is a woman ahead of her time, a restless, brave adventurer who forges an independent career as a writer and journalist in San Francisco. Later she travels to the home of her unknown father in Chile, covering the horrors of the Chilean civil war and finally journeying into the wilderness to seek her inheritance.

I have read and loved many of Allende's previous novels, but this doesn't live up to the best of them. It is crammed with factual, reportage style detail, often at the expense of character development. At times it feels like reading through a wikipedia page. The final section is quite strange and is not resolved satisfactorily. I found this novel disappointing.

Another fabulous read from Isabel Allende!

I have read many books from this author and adored them all. She covers the historical events in such detail, it is as if you were there. The female characters and always incredible and Emilia del Valle is no exception to this.

Emilia is brave, independent and fights to become a journalist in her own right. She travels to Chile as a war correspondent and is such an inspiration. She writes the soldiers stories, looks after them and tries to bring hope in war time.

The story is so well written and the characters are incredibly real to life. I learned so much about Chilean history from this book. Highly recommend!

I loved the strength of Emilia who was drawn into the Chilean Civil War of 1891. This is also a personal story of her love of Eric but also the search for her birth father. She is driven to find as much as she is able to while connecting with her Chilean family. Emilia was committed to her love of Eric but until she settled down she needed to follow one last and dangerous journey.

This book didn't grab me as much as previous ones I've read by Allende and it felt rather disjointed as a story. I'm also unsure if Emilia would've had quite so much freedom at the time but I don't have the knowledge of this part of the world to say for certain. The parts about the Chilean civil war were harrowing and it was good to learn more about the history.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for a free copy in exchange for an honest review

A new Allende is always a pleasure, though My Name Is Emilia Del Valle is less of an epic than many of her books, it has a sprightly way in drawing its lead character and then inserting her into Chilean history. Emilia del Valle is the daughter of a schoolteacher (who had planned to be a nun), and the scion of the aristocratic Chilean Del Valle family. Her mother, a resident of San Francisco, though of Irish origin, was seduced and then left pregnant. She, however, found a good man who married her, gave her three other boys, and this is the stable-if-poor family that Emilia grows up in. Erudite, literary and headstrong, Emilia turns to writing lurid dime novels in her teens under a male pen name, and then, with plenty of writing experience, bullies her way into a journalism job at a local paper. And following that, after a few years on the job, she gets herself sent as a foreign correspondent to the Chilean Civil War.

It takes about half the book to get to Chile, and Allende is interested in an outsider's view of the conflict. Not only is Emilia covering the war, but she also has a partner, Eric, who ends up covering the rebels' side, again allowing Allende to probe both positions in the war. Emilia also gets involved with what there is of her family, meeting an idiosyncratic great aunt (a classic Allende stock type of blustery headstrong matriarchs), and reconnecting with her father. The personal story drives the book, though clearly Allende wants to get into the civil war, it is a difficult subject to dive deeply into. Emilia's position as a journalist, with some aristocratic connections, means she gets to interview plenty of senior people in the official government, and later she assists as a nurse at the end of the war. It is almost too much, she manages to get Emilia involved in so many aspects that it starts to feel artificial. However, a period of arrest does seem like the classic South American coda for over-involvement.

My Name Is Emilia Del Valle is a page-turner, though it probably doesn't stand out from Allende's body of work. It is short for Allende, and, with perhaps a slightly mystical ending, eschews any magical realism that has often been her stock in trade. I enjoyed it a lot, Emilia is a terrific lead character and both fulfills the woman out of time niche and a more progressive role in the late nineteenth century. And its another chunk of Chilean history that Allende gets to play with. Its not a classic, but a very solid read.

As always, Isabel Allende created a powerful story with a strong woman leading the action. Set during the Chilean civil war in 1891, this story is beautifully told, all the aspects of war explored beautifully and heartbreakingly. I loved to see how Emila never let difficult circumstances stop her in the pursuit of truth, for herself and others, and how she developed as a person as the story unfolded. As always, I'm left looking forward to reading more by Allende.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an arc of the book in exchange for an honest review.

My Name is Emilia Del Valle by Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende is a talented author who writes movingly about strong women and their histories. This novel is all about the Civil War in Chile but it is also about love and commitment and the lengths to which people will go. The story begins in California with the seduction of Molly Walsh a young and naïve novitiate. She finds herself pregnant after a brief encounter a man who is a Chilean aristocrat. He denies responsibility for Molly’s pregnancy but Molly is saved by Don Pancho Claro, a teacher who raises Molly’s daughter as his own child and teaches her to be independent and to push boundaries.
Emilia forges a life for herself first as a novelist under the pseudonym of a man and then later as a journalist on the Daily Examiner. She persuades her editor to allow her to report on the Chilean Civil War and is tasked by her mother to search out her birth father.
Allende describes the horror of war in terrible detail and Emilia’s quest to find her father and to report on the conflict brings her into life threatening situations. The historical detail is excellent but doesn’t stop the story from gripping you throughout. Isabel Allende has created another memorable strong female protagonist and I enjoyed the time I spent in her company. I knew very little about the history of Chile and I also found it informative and fascinating. Indeed most of what I know about Chile has been learnt through various Isabel Allende novels.
I will be recommending this book at my various book groups and would like to thank Bloomsbury, Net Galley and Isabel Allende for the opportunity to read the book in return for an honest review.

My Name is Emilia del Valle is a powerful and beautifully written story, full of heart and depth. Isabel Allende brings Emilia to life with her signature warmth and lyricism. It’s a moving journey of identity, love, and resilience that draws you in from the first page. A rich, emotional read that stays with you.

Emilia del Valle is a young woman of Chilean descent living with her mother and adoptive father in San Francisco in the late 1800’s. She knows that she is of noble Chilean descent and decides to travel to Chile to find her birth father and family, even though she has been much loved growing up. Emilia is journalist, a real rarity at that time, when journalists were all men, but she is determined to make a name for herself by reporting on the Chilean civil war, and she becomes involved in the bloody conflict in ways she could never have have imagined possible. Isabel Allende doesn’t hold back on the more gory details of war, but as these are an integral part of Emilia’s story, the vivid description adds to the impact of the book. As always, settings, characterisation and plot are all masterfully managed in this work of great distinction.

Born in 1866, Emilia del Valle Claro is brought up by poor but hard working parents in San Francisco’s Mission District. She is determined to escape the expectations of a woman of her time and class, and starts to write popular crime novels under the name of Brandon J Price. Using the same male identity she writes a crime report for the local newspaper and manages to persuade the editor to commission regular articles from her. A task that is facilitated by her contacts in the poorer part of the city...

Read the full review on my website (link below)

Essentially the author has created the fictional character of Emilia del Valle to enable her to explore a turbulent period of Chile’s history, namely the civil war that took place in that country in 1891 between the so-called ‘rebels’ who had the support of the Chilean Navy and supporters of the President José Manuel Balmaceda who controlled the Chilean Army.

I confess I found the early parts of the book a little slow because it’s quite a while before Emilia even arrives in Chile. However, by that time we’ve learned just what a determined young woman Emilia is, intent on pursuing a journalistic career despite the obstacles placed in her path and the sexism she experiences. ‘I recognize that it must be much easier to be a man, but I am not going to let that hold me back.’

Emilia even has to fight to have her articles published under her own name rather than a male pseudonym and the editor of the San Francisco newspaper she works for, The Daily Examiner, reluctantly agrees to send her to what is an active war zone only if accompanied by a male reporter, Eric Whelan. Even then she’s told to concentrate on producing ‘human interest’ stories rather than reporting from the front line. You won’t be surprised to learn Emilia ignores the latter instruction completely although we do get examples of her ability to describe the lives and motivations of people from every part of society in occasional transcripts of her newspaper articles.

Emilia’s journey from San Francisco to Chile is just one of the testing experiences she endures. When she arrives in Chile the reader is plunged into the complexity of the civil war with its rival factions. Whilst Whelan (whose first hand experiences we occasionally get) is embedded with the ‘rebel’ forces, Emilia uses her connections to get up close to the government side. The point where the two sides come together is where the book came alive for me. The brutality of war is really laid bare in the way the scenes of battle are described and, amazingly, Emilia finds herself right at the heart of it. ‘The deafening roar of bullets, cannon blasts, shouted orders, howls of pain, wails of dying men, the whinnying of terrified horses.’

Civil war not only divides countries, it divides people and families. Many combatants on both sides have no particular loyalty to the cause or desire to kill their fellow men and women. They often have no choice. And, as we discover, you definitely do not want to be on the losing side and experience the ruthless and bloody aftermath.

Emilia feels it is her mission to tell the stories of the ordinary men and women caught up in the conflict, in her words ‘to collect the dispersed fragments of those tales’. One of the most notable of these tales are those of the women known as ‘canteen girls’ whose task is to carry water and other supplies to men in the front line, even in the heat of battle.

Her experiences leave Emilia mentally – and physically – scarred, and wondering at mankind’s capacity for violence. ‘How is it possible that, from the dawn of their presence on earth, men have systematically set out to murder one another? What fatal madness do we carry in our soul?’ I suspect it’s a question many of us have thought about in recent times.

Emilia’s attempts to find her birth father form a secondary story line and one that makes up a less signficant element of the book than I’d envisaged from the blurb. However, it does provide the jumping-off point for the final part of the book which sees Emilia embark on an epic journey by land but first by sea. ‘Sea and more sea, short days and long nights, the sun winking out on the horizon, golden twilights, the moon gliding across the black sky, crimson sunrises, radiant noonday clarity, sepulchral clouds.’ It’s a journey that’s as much self-exploratory as geographical and gives the closing chapters a rather mystical air.

There were parts of My Name is Emilia del Valle that I found absolutely riveting and I enjoyed finding out more about the history of Chile and its culture. The author is known for creating strong female characters and Emilia is a brilliant example of this.

My Name is Emilia del Valle is a gripping, beautifully written novel that completely pulled me in from the first page. Like every Isabel Allende book I’ve read, it’s rich in atmosphere, full of heart, and populated with complex, unforgettable characters. Emilia, in particular, is a brilliant protagonist—strong, curious, and determined, but also vulnerable in a way that makes her feel incredibly real.

One of the things I loved most was the feminist angle. Emilia’s journey as a journalist is so inspiring, and the way Allende explores the challenges she faces as a woman - both professionally and personally - felt honest and empowering. It’s a story about finding your voice, standing your ground, and refusing to be silenced.

I also really enjoyed learning more about this period in Chilean history, which I knew very little about going in. Allende weaves historical detail into the story so seamlessly that it never feels heavy-handed.

This book is emotional, thought-provoking, and full of moments that stay with you long after you finish it. If you love stories about strong women, political history, and following your passions even when the odds are stacked against you, I’d definitely recommend it.

There’s no doubt that Isabel Allende is a great storyteller, however for me this book just doesn’t live up to expectations. There’s lots of history about the Chilean revolution but for me it lacked depth of character. I never felt that I knew Emilia properly and I didn’t empathise with her. It read very factually and I found myself skipping through the accounts of war. I’m sure others will no doubt love this book, but it wasn’t my favourite of hers.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for a review.

Wow, what a fantastic novel.  A first hand account of Emilia's life in the early 1890s begore, during, and after the Chilean Civil War when Emilia journeys to find herself.   I loved the pace of this novel and I was gripped throughout; such wonderful writing.  I grew to love the characters and was invested in them.  The description of the events was so detailed I felt I was 'there'.  I've never been disappointed with a novel by Isabele Allende.  I recommend!

Emilia del Valle is a richly imagined novel by Isabel Allende, centred on a fictional protagonist whose life story intertwines personal ambitions with historical events. The novel opens in late 19th-century San Francisco, where young Emilia is raised in a warm, intellectually curious household. Like her mother and stepfather, she is driven by a thirst for knowledge and a yearning for “unexpected horizons.” Her early life is shaped by storytelling. She becomes a writer of dime novels filled with ‘murder, jealousy, cruelty, ambition and hatred…the same as in the Bible or opera’ and then she transitions into the male-dominated journalism profession.

Emilia’s journalistic ambitions take her first to Paris and then to Chile in 1891, where she seeks both her estranged birth father and the truth behind the Chilean Civil War that led to the fall of President José Manuel Balmaceda. Though Emilia initially doubts her ability to capture the horrors of war, Allende’s vivid prose brings the brutality to life, particularly in harrowing scenes like the Los Cañas massacre, where Emilia and others bear witness to horrific atrocities. Her involvement in the conflict becomes deeply personal, blurring the lines between observer and participant.

In the final section of the novel, Emilia journeys further south into the remote regions of Chile, where she encounters indigenous communities. This part of the narrative is quieter but no less profound. Emilia confronts the most intimate aspects of her identity and purpose. This section also subtly contrasts community oral traditions of sharing news with the speed of communications (such as telegrams) used earlier in the story.

The novel is a compelling tale of personal change within a particular time in Chile’s history. As with all Isabelle Allende’s novels it is a great story and also multi-layered and understated in many aspects.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an advanced copy.

I really enjoyed this book. It was set in the late 1800's in San Francisco and Chile. It tells the story of a remarkable woman, who was trying to be independent and find her place in the world. A strong woman yet vulnerable. Emilia didn't have a good start in life. Her wealthy Chilean father abandoned her pregnant mother Molly Walsh, who was a nun. Molly goes onto to marry and Emilia is part of a loving stable family. Her step father adores her and encourages her, especially with her writing. Initially using a man's name, Emilia gets a job as a journalist and travels to Chile to report on the brewing civil war. Emilia meets her biological father but things take a turn for the worst as war rages.
Isabel Allende takes the reader on a journey, where you start to feel the pains. She captivates with her descriptive writing and I was transported and invested throughout. I look forward to more books by this author.