I've read other Isabel Allende books and really liked them.
The cover of my book is different to the picture.

I know 10 is high but there's something about these books that keeps you reading and reading. I didn't know about the political situation but it didn't matter. You just need to know what happens to the family.

I will be sending this book to Amanida this week.

Thank you ReetPetite - I'm looking forward to reading it, especially as you gave it a 10!

Wonderful read - magical, funny and tragic at the same time. I really enjoyed it and will look out for more Isabel Allende. Read in Chertsey, The Hague and mainly on the journey in between.

Sent off to aubriel, to partner "A Portrait in Sepia", which is on a ring.

Arrived this morning :-)

OK, I am pretty hopeless at journalling books. Sometimes I don't have the right words to describe a book and other times I plain forget!!!

I enjoyed this book, not quite what I was expecting but enjoyable nevertheless. It is far more fantastic (in the more traditional sense of the word) than I was expecting. Actually, not long after I read this book I was reading a review of Allende's new book and it discussed how her style had altered away from the more mystical style in 'House of Spirits' which I think you can see just in the move from this book just to 'Portrait in Sepia' which concerned another branch of the same family.

My only slight niggle with this book is that the narrators voice, so to speak, changes throughout the book. Sometimes it is clear who is talking and sometimes it will be an objective perspective, but there is IMO another voice that 'feels' like a character, but doesn't actually reveal themself. Not that it detracts from the story, just sometimes I my attention wandered trying to figure out who is was rather than concentrating on the story.