La casa de los espíritus Isabel Allende / Carme Portaceli

Isabel Allende’s novel was published in 1982 and just a few could have foreseen at that time that it would become such a blockbuster. Readers from half the planet have relished the adventures and misfortunes of four generations of the Trueba family, protagonists of a story that unveils the social and political movements in postcolonial Chile which dramatically ended up in a coup-d’état and the implementation of a relentless dictatorship.

A granddaughter finds her grandma’s diaries and starts writing her family story. This is how the plot develops by focusing on the stories of several women whose names are all related to the term «light»: From Nívea (Snow-white) to Clara (Claire), from Blanca (Bianca) to Alba (Dawn). The latter is the one in charge of unwinding the thread of the story, a story highlighting the idea of reconciliation, the attempt to conciliate both the country and the protagonists’ family.