My Name is Emilia del Valle

Isabel Allende was born in Lima, Peru, where her father, Tomás Allende, worked in the Chilean embassy. When she was three, her parents separated and her mother took her and her siblings to live in Santiago, Chile, where she lived until she was ten. Her mother’s second husband was also a diplomat, and Allende spent the second half of her childhood on the move, living in Chile, Bolivia, and Lebanon. She was educated both at home and in American and English schools. As a young adult, she made a living at various jobs, including working for the United Nations in Chile, translating romance books from English into Spanish, and writing for magazines. Her father’s cousin, Salvador Allende, a principled socialist, became president of Chile in 1970 and was overthrown in a coup backed by the United States government in 1973. When her name subsequently appeared on a political hit list, Allende fled the country for Venezuela. There, upon receiving word that her 99-year-old grandfather was on his deathbed, she sat down on January 8, 1977, to write him a letter which became the seed of her 1982 debut novel, The House of the Spirits. Allende went on to write more than 20 novels and five works of nonfiction over the next four decades and to become one of the best-selling authors of the 20th century. Her writing focuses on historical events, particularly the political history of Chile, and feminist themes. Her numerous awards include the American Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature, the Chilean National Prize for Literature, the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award, and an American Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented by Barak Obama in 2014. She has made a name for herself as a philanthropist dedicated to the protection and empowerment of women and girls.

The Chilean Civil War, which anchors much of the action in My Name is Emilia del Valle, is best understood in the context of Chile’s turbulent 19th century. Spanish conquistadors established a colony in present-day Chile in the early 16th century, which remained under Spanish control until gaining its independence in 1818. As a strong, almost autocratic presidency emerged, Chile engaged in conflicts both internal—the Chilean Civil War of (1829-1830), the Occupation of Araucanía (1861-1883)—and external, such as the War of the Pacific (1881), in which Chile won land rich in mineral deposits from Bolivia and Peru. The Civil War of 1891 was precipitated by a fight for power between the authoritarian-leaning and Leftist President José Manuel Balmaceda, who was secularizing government and enacting pro-working-class policies, and the landed elites who largely controlled the Chilean congress. Global politics had their impact on the war, too, particularly fierce competition between America and European powers colonies and control of valuable natural resources, such as Chilean nitrates. In this context, conflicts like the Chilean Civil War of 1891 frequently played out as proxy wars between other powers, as discussed in the book. Whereas America sided with President Balmaceda, Great Britain—hoping to wrest even more control over Chilean nitrate production than it already had—joined forces with the Congressionalists. On another note, Emilia secures her job at The Daily Examiner in part because she’s able to write vivid articles feature lurid gossip about San Francisco’s elite and its seedy underbelly. She thus benefits from the rise of “yellow” journalism (sensationalized and inflated reporting designed to drive newspaper sales) in late 19th-century America, driven in part by the competition between newspaper magnates Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolf Hearst (who, in the novel, owns The Daily Examiner).

My Name is Emilia del Valle features cameos and appearances by characters from other books in Allende’s oeuvre. Another branch of the del Valle family makes an appearance in her first novel, The House of the Spirits (1982) as does the fiery Father Restrepo. Paulina del Valle is a character in Daughter of Fortune (1998) and Portrait in Sepia (2000). These novels, as well as many others in Allende’s lengthy catalogue, explore similar themes to Emilia del Valle, including feminine empowerment, the importance of love, and the value of self-discovery. Allende’s 2019 novel, A Long Petal of the Sea, set during the Spanish Civil War, explores these themes as well. The novel also shares with Emilia del Valle a critique of war and violence. Readers who enjoy Emilia del Valle for its historical setting in late 19th-century America and its strong female protagonist will find similar treatments outside of Allende’s own library, such as Erin Lindsey McCabe’s 2014 I Shall Be Near to You, which tells the tale of a young bride who disguises herself as a man so she can fight alongside her husband in the American Civil War. Similarly, Karen Joy Fowler’s Sister Noon (2001) traces the emancipation of a Gilded Age San Francsico spinster through her friendship with the free-spirited abolitionist and entrepreneur (and first self-made Black American millionaire) Mary Ellen Pleasant.