Isabel Allende's latest novel, PORTRAIT IN SEPIA, is the story of Aurora del Valle, her extraordinary family, her turbulent childhood, and her journey of self-discovery. Like most Allende novels, PORTRAIT IN SEPIA is sweeping in scope. It moves from San Francisco to Europe to Chile, from extravagant California mansions to South American battlefields and Chilean vineyards. It is ostensibly a family drama but it also explores themes of politics, love, sex, and most importantly, identity.

Born in 1862, Aurora is raised for the first five years of her life by her maternal grandparents in San Francisco's Chinatown. Her wise and brave grandfather, Tao Chi'en, surrounds her in love after her mother's death, which occurred hours after she was born. Aurora, or Mai Ling as she was called by Tao Chi'en, has little contact with her paternal, Chilean family until tragedy strikes and she is sent to live with them. Far from the comforts of Chinatown and Tao Chi'en, she lives with her passionate and flamboyant grandmother, Paulina del Valle. Life with the del Valle family is always dramatic and dynamic and becomes even more so as Aurora and her grandmother leave America and move to Chile. As she grows, Aurora learns more about both sides of her family, about the mystery of her father, about politics, about the ravages of war and poverty, and about the ravages and joys of love. Out of the faded memories of her shattered childhood Aurora begins to not only unravel the mystery of her past, finding meaning in the nightmares that haunt her, but she also begins to understand and assert her own needs and emerges as a strong and whole woman.

To arrive at self-understanding, self-acceptance, and peace Aurora must seek out the truth about her mother, her absent father, her grandfather, and her missing maternal grandmother (Eliza Sommers, the subject of Allende's earlier novel, DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE). The reappearance, by the end of the novel, of several characters who can help complete Aurora's biography contributes to her sense of closure but may feel too artificial or convenient to the reader. Realism, however, has never been Allende's strong point. Her style instead blends the "magical realism" of Gabriel Garcia Marquez with the juiciest of soap operas and romance novels and adds the exaggerated drama of Victorian morality plays. PORTRAIT IN SEPIA is no exception. Every character is heroic; even the adulterous husband is heroic in the scope and breadth of his true love for his mistress.

While Allende's simple life lessons wrapped in historical drama do not make for a thought-provoking or philosophical read, there is something for almost everyone in this novel. As a storyteller, Allende is wonderful. And, because she allows Aurora to narrate her own brutal and beautiful story, the reader is easily caught up in the often-unbelievable events. Aurora del Valle's emergence as a woman strong enough to share her own painful history (and triumphant present) makes this novel an enjoyable and recommendable read.

   --- Reviewed by Sarah Egelman

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