Eva Luna 9781471173431 Paperback

**The remarkable novel from the multi-million-bestselling author ofThe House of the SpiritsandThe Japanese Lover**Meet the unforgettable Eva Luna: a lover, a writer, a revolutionary and above all, a storyteller.Eva Lunais the daughter of a professor’s assistant and a snake-bitten gardener born poor, orphaned at an early age and working as a servant. Eva is a naturally gifted and imaginative storyteller who meets people from all walks of life. Though she has no wealth, she trades her stories like currency with people who are kind to her. As she shares her stories, she introduces an eccentric cast of characters: the Lebanesemigr who takes her in, her Catholic godmother who believes in saints, a street urchin who grows up to be the leader of the guerrilla struggle, a celebrated trans cabaret star and a young refugee whose flight from postwar Europe will change Eva’s life forever.AsEvatells her story, Isabel Allende brings to life a complex South American country the rich, the poor, the sophisticated in a novel that celebrates the power of imagination and storytelling.Praise for Isabel AllendesEva Luna:Vibrant, colourful characters; the ordinary fused with the grotesque; a Latin American setting, tropical this time; vivid, elegant narrative. The narrator, Eva Luna, is herselfa story-teller in the Allende traditionGuardianAn evidentaffection for words,compassion for the oppressedand the inarticulate, the daring ambition to draw cross-sections of whole societies . . .Allende’s work glowsNew York TimesSumptuous. . . a tale that spans forty years and moves from a surreal jungle to a modern-day urban capital where even the most apolitical are driven to risky anti-government activitiesChicago TribuneAllende rearranges reality with a blend ofmemories, mysticism and imaginationThe Philadelphia InquirerAremarkablenovel, one in which a cascade of stories tumbled out before the reader,stories vivid and passionate and humanWashington PostMagnificent. . . Allende is a prodigious fabulist,weaving extraordinary talesPublishers Weekly