Chile - The House of the Spirits

Book 33: The House of the Spirits - Isabel Allende

"In one of the most important and beloved Latin American works of the 20th century, Isabel Allende weaves a luminous tapestry of three generations of the Trueba family, revealing both triumphs and tragedies. 

Here is patriarch Esteban, whose wild desires and political machinations are tempered only by his love for his ethereal wife, Clara, a woman touched by an otherworldly hand. Their daughter, Blanca, whose forbidden love for a man Esteban has deemed unworthy infuriates her father, yet will produce his greatest joy: his granddaughter Alba, a beautiful, ambitious girl who will lead the family and their country into a revolutionary future." 

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This book fits under many genres - fiction, magical realism, fantasy, classics, historical fiction...I grabbed onto the last one, particularly in the second half of the book. While the story itself is fiction, it's set against a very real backdrop. And I found myself pausing to Google the history of Chile so that I could understand the storyline more completely. The real characters are not named, nor is a definitive date given. But the book starts around WWII, which makes "the President" Eduardo Montalva, "the Socialist" is Salvador Allende, and "the General" is Augusto Pinoche. Salvador Allende, by the way, is Isabel's father's first cousin, which lends a whole new light to the story. 

The story is beautiful, violent, triumphant and tragic. I loved it.