Praise for Isabel Allende: 'A magical storyteller' Daily Mail 'Allende's writing is so vivid we hear the sounds, see the bright birds, smell and even taste the soft fruit.' The Times 'A wonderful, seemingly effortless storyteller; you feel yourself sink into the folds of her narrative with an almost childlike certainty that you're going to hear a good story well told.' Irish Independent 'Her prose is rich and magical, her characters vivid. She mixes violence and horror, love and humour, with more than a touch of genius.' Mary Wesley praise for Daughter of Fortune: "A dazzling, sweeping story." MAIL ON SUNDAY "Romance, passion and adventure fuel Allende's new novel. With an old-fashioned narrative drive and a warm-hearted heroine, it wins you over." SUNDAY EXPRESS "Memory and imagination and myth weave their spells... Allende creates world upon world in dazzling descriptive prose." INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY "Within the lush sweep of this tale of the heart, there is a message that love is transient and illusory, that it is the beginning of a journey of self-discovery, not the end. Daughter of Fortune takes us from high-class soirees to brothels, revolutionary meetings and opium dens; it introduces a cast of colourful characters and the story remains fresh and original." TLS

isabel allende was born in 1942, the cousin of Salvador Allende, who went on to become famous as the elected President of Chile deposed in a CIA-backed coup. She worked as a journalist, playwright and children's writer in Chile until 1974 and then in Venezuela until 1984. Her first novel for adults, The House of the Spirits, was published in Spanish in 1982, beginning life as a letter to her dying grandfather. It was an international sensation, and ever since all her books have been acclaimed and adored in numberless translations worldwide.