Of Love And Shadows

A riveting novel of tragedy, sacrifice and bravery. It is about two people prepared to risk everything for the sake of justice and truth.

Set in a country of arbitrary arrests, sudden disappearances and summary executions, Isabel Allende's magical new novel tells of the passionate affair of two people prepared to risk everything for the sake of justice and truth. Irene Beltrán, a reporter, comes from a wealthy background; Francisco Leal, a young photographer secretly engaged in undermining the military dictatorship, is strongly attracted by her beauty. It does not matter that Irene's fiancé is an army captain: each time Francisco accompanies her on a magazine assignment, he falls more deeply in love with her. When they go to investigate the mysterious case of Evangelina Ranquileo, a girl suffering from spectacular fits which are rumoured to have miraculous powers, the arrival of soldiers adds a sinister aspect to the mystery. And then Evangelina disappears. Irene and Francisco, in trying to trace her and indict the Junta, become engulfed in a vortex of terror and violence.

Author Profile

Isabel Allende was born in Lima, Peru. She has recently lived in Caracas, Venezuela, with her husband and two children. Her first two novels, The House of the Spirits and Of Love and Shadows are published by Black Swan. The House of the Spirits was made into a film starring Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Winona Ryder, Vanessa Redgrave, Antonio Banderas and Keanu Reeves.

Reviews

Her pen has a clenched fist and cries out against injustice. Viva Allende!','This is propaganda on the side of the angels. Latin American dictators had better ban it immediately','Breathtaking…an imaginative landscape where fabulous things happen'