''A Long Petal of the Sea'' ( es, Largo pétalo de mar) is a 2019 novel by

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an author Isabel Allende. Originally published in Spain by Plaza & Janés, it was first published in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

by Vintage Espanol. The novel was issued in 2019 in Spanish as ''Largo pétalo de mar'', and was translated into English by

Nick Caistor Nick Caistor (born 15 July 1946) is a British translator and journalist, best known for his translations of Spanish and Portuguese literature. He is a past winner of the Valle-Inclán Prize for translation. He is a regular contributor to BBC Rad ...

and

Amanda Hopkinson Amanda Hopkinson (born 1948) is a British scholar and literary translator. Biography She was born in London to the British journalist and magazine editor Sir Tom Hopkinson and photographer Gerti Deutsch. She gained a BA from the University of Wa ...

. Based on a real story, it is set partly during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

and partly in

where the protagonists again witness the fight between freedom and repression. ''A Long Petal of the Sea'' became the most popular book in Spain between April 2019 and April 2020.

Plot

The story opens during

the Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

where the protagonist, Victor Dalmau, has left his

medical studies Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practice ...

to help the Republicans against the Fascist forces of General Franco. His brother, Guillem, is also a Republican soldier, but he dies in the

Battle of Ebro The Battle of the Ebro ( es, Batalla del Ebro, ca, Batalla de l'Ebre) was the longest and largest battle of the Spanish Civil War and the greatest, in terms of manpower, logistics and material ever fought on Spanish soil. It took place between Ju ...

. Victor has to seek the help of his Basque friend, Aitor Ibarra, to send his mother and Guillem's wife, Roser, to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, as the victory of Franco's forces is becoming more and more certain. After many trials, he reunites with Roser in France, and they hear that

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, a ship chartered by the poet

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

, is going to take a certain number of Spanish refugees to

. Desperate to grab the chance, Victor and Roser get married reluctantly to qualify for the journey. They embark on this journey, but migration to the new country is not the end of their problem, and there again they are forced to witness the fight between freedom and repression, which seems to be a neverending war.

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website Book Marks, which assigns individual ratings to book reviews from mainstream literary critics, the novel received a cumulative "Positive" rating based on 20 reviews: 8 "Rave" reviews, 8 "Positive" reviews, 3 "Mixed" reviews, and 1 "Pan" review. Marcela Davison Avilés of NPR admires the "gifted stories" of Allende, noting that "''A Long Petal of the Sea'' is a love story for these times. But it's not a story beholden to any era. Its call is immutable, like

Neruda Neruda may refer to: People * Neruda (surname), a list of people with the surname ** Jan Neruda (1834—1891), Czech journalist, writer, and poet ** Johann Baptist Georg Neruda (—), classical Czech composer ** Pablo Neruda (1904—1973), Chilean ...

's hope". ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' praises the skill with which Allende tells a story of "displacement", "a theme sharpened by her own life story". In her review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'',

Paula McLain Paula McLain (born 1965) is an American author best known for her novel, '' The Paris Wife'', a fictionalized account of Ernest Hemingway's first marriage which became a long-time ''New York Times'' bestseller. She has published two collections o ...

highlights the themes of this novel: "there is the sense that every human life is an odyssey, and that how and where we connect creates the fabric of our existence: the source of our humanity". ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' praises Allende's storytelling skill: "Allende tends to describe emotions and events rather than delve into them, and she paints the historical backdrop in very broad strokes, but she is an engaging storyteller".

References

External links

The Author's Website.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Long Petal of the Sea, A 2019 Chilean novels Novels by Isabel Allende Novels set in Chile Novels set in Spain Chilean historical novels Novels set during the Spanish Civil War