A Long Petal of the Sea

A Novel

By: Isabel Allende, Nick Caistor, Amanda Hopkinson

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

New York Times Best Seller

From the author of The House of the Spirits, this epic novel spanning decades and crossing continents follows two young people as they flee the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in search of a place to call home.

“One of the most richly imagined portrayals of the Spanish Civil War to date, and one of the strongest and most affecting works in [Isabel Allende’s] long career.” (The New York Times Book Review)

Named One of The Best Books of The Year By Esquire • Good Housekeeping • Parade

In the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires.

Together with two thousand other refugees, Roser and Victor embark on the SS Winnipeg, a ship chartered by the poet Pablo Neruda, to Chile: “the long petal of sea and wine and snow.” As unlikely partners, the couple embraces exile as the rest of Europe erupts in world war. Starting over on a new continent, they face trial after trial, but they will also find joy as they patiently await the day when they might go home. Through it all, their hope of returning to Spain keeps them going. Destined to witness the battle between freedom and repression as it plays out across the world, Roser and Victor will find that home might have been closer than they thought all along.

A masterful work of historical fiction about hope, exile, and belonging, A Long Petal of the Sea shows Isabel Allende at the height of her powers.

Praise for A Long Petal of the Sea

“Both an intimate look at the relationship between one man and one woman and an epic story of love, war, family, and the search for home, this gorgeous novel, like all the best novels, transports the reader to another time and place, and also sheds light on the way we live now.” (J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Saints for All Occasions)

“This is a novel not just for those of us who have been Allende fans for decades, but also for those who are brand-new to her work: What a joy it must be to come upon Allende for the first time. She knows that all stories are love stories, and the greatest love stories are told by time.” (Colum McCann, National Book Award-winning author of Let the Great World Spin)

©2020 Isabel Allende (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

"Edoardo Ballerini's sensitive narration of Isabel Allende's lyrical prose touches the heart.... Ballerini expertly delivers Allende's reminder of how delicate the boundary is between precious freedom and insidious tyranny. Powerful listening." (AudioFile Magazine)

"Majestic...both timeless and perfectly timed for today...Allende’s assured prose vividly evokes her fictional characters [and] historical figures...seamlessly juxtaposing exile with homecoming, otherness with belonging, and tyranny with freedom." (Publishers Weekly, starred review) 

"A tale that is seductively intimate and strategically charming...a virtuoso of lucidly well-told, utterly enrapturing fiction...Allende deftly addresses war, displacement, violence, and loss in a novel of survival and love under siege." (Booklist, starred review) 

Impressive

There are two things I like about Isabel Allende’s books. One she is a gifted writer and her prose is beautiful. The second is she puts her characters into a real historical/political situation.

In this book there are a few key issues that have parallels similar to today’s world. The rise of fascism and the massive number of refugees. The story starts with the Spanish Civil War and follows our protagonist as refugees that are eventually accepted into Chile with the help of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Allende covers a number of societal problems such as women’s right or lack of and the treatment of unwed mothers by the Catholic church. I must admit I never realized the number of Spanish refugees that fled into France at the end of the Civil War. I was surprised by the number of parallels between then and now. The book grabbed my attention at the start and held it throughout. I highly recommend this book.

The book is nine hours and forty-six minutes. Edoardo Ballerini does an excellent job narrating the book. Ballerini is an actor and has won multiple Earphone Awards as well as an Audie Award. He won the best male narrator Award for 2019 and also the Audiofile Magazine 2019 Golden Voice Award.

An Classic

A long-time fan this story returns me to the earlier style of Allende. A rapid story-line offering the depths of a 1,000 pages and the breadth of a lifetime. The weaving of historical facts with the lyrical style of the characters is why I so love this author. Thank you for thre experience!

Stultifying. sorry.

I hung in to the end but never was engaged. The drone of the story was misery. It wasn’t boring exactly, how can descriptions of excruciating, unimaginable torture be boring. But the characters seemed like place holders.

Bad audio!

The story was fine it was the audio that was AWFUL! He read as if on speed and ran some words together. If I put it on slower speed it was like listening to a drunk narrator.
I thought maybe it was my app so I reloaded it. That didn’t help and my other books are fine!
I had to just download the book from Kindle and read it! I wanted this for a road trip!

An Astounding Read!

One of my new all time favorites- beautifully written, wonderful characters who now live in my head. And a fantastic history lesson on how authoritarian regimes destroy lives.

Read this!!!

The triumph of love as what matters

This story provides most North American readers with a window onto times and places they have only read about, the hardships of the losing sides in the Spanish Civil War and the Chilean dictatorship of Pinochet. Through the characters we experience several levels of social class and political viewpoints while we see the cities and people in all their foibles and nobility. This book enriched my appreciation of another culture and provided an education of another time . I will read it again.

Again a masterpiece from Mme Allende

This is a gripping tale with very well portrayed, strong characters - so much so that quite often I thought "but wait a minute, he is just like Uncle X or Aunt Y!". Thus it was also interesting for me to see how these characters lived their lives - often in torment - in parts of the world not so well known to me (including their histories); and how their strength brought them through hell at times. And how many, many events in the book happened in a very different location but almost the same way for my family.
The book also gave a good and different insight both into the Spanish Civil war and the modern history of Chile.

Wonderfully immersive experience

I rarely write reviews, but felt that both this book by Allende, and the narration by Ballerini were extraordinary. He truly made her writing come alive, and the skilled nuance that he brought to each character voice made all the difference in listening to the book rather than reading it. Highly recommend.

Once again Isabel Allende sweeps me away

Impossible to put down. Isabel transports you to another time & place. Having grown up in Argentina in the 80s, it resonates with the political struggles of the era when i was there.

Wish this had a connectable story line

I normally enjoy Allende. The historical portion was ok, but the story was dull. No connection or love for any character.