#portrait in sepia

[peacephotography]

Light is the language of photography, the soul of the world. There is no light without shadow, just as there is no happiness without pain.

- Isabel Allende, Portrait in Sepia

[petaltexturedskies]

I seek truth and beauty in the transparency of an autumn leaf, in the perfect form of a seashell on the beach, in the curve of a woman’s back, in the texture of an ancient tree trunk, but also in the elusive forms of reality.

Isabel Allende, from Portrait in Sepia

[horsesarecreatures]

Book Review: Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende

This is the third book in The House of the Spirits trilogy. It takes place earlier in time, with the historic backdrops being the American Civil War, the War of the Pacific between Chile and Peru - Bolivia, and the Chilean Revolution of 1891. The main characters are still members of the Del Valle family, primarily Paulina Del Valle and her illegitimate granddaughter Aurora Del Valle.

The story begins in San Francisco in 1880. Aurora Del Valle has just been born in Chinatown. Her father is Paulina Del Valle's son Matias, who denies paternity. Her mother Lynn Sommers is a model, but dies shortly after giving birth to her. Lynn Sommers is the daughter of Eliza Sommers, a British woman, and Tao Chi'en, a well-known Chinese doctor who was one of the few Chinese immigrants to be given America citizenship.

Although Matias denied paternity, Severo Del Valle, Paulina Del Valle's nephew, married Lynn Sommers and became Aurora's legal father. However, Aurora lives with her loving maternal grandparents for the first 5 years of her life, and Severo returns to Chile to marry his cousin Nivea, and they have 15 children in of their own (2 of those children are Rosa the Beautiful and Clara the Clairvoyant from House of the Spirits). Unfortunately, Tao Chi'en is killed after leading authorities to the houses of the Sing-song girls, who he had long tried to help.

Eliza Sommers had vowed to return Tao Chi'en's body to China, and that's what she does. She brings Aurora to the house of her paternal grandmother Paulina Del Valle. Paulina Del Valle had always wanted Aurora, but her first husband, Severo, and Aurora's maternal grandparents wouldn't allow it. But Paulina's first husband Feliciano had died, and due to the changed circumstances Eliza Sommers and Severo decided the child should stay with her.

Paulina Del Valle loves Aurora with her whole heart, but will tell her nothing of her past. Nonetheless, Aurora enjoys a fairly happy childhood after the initial trauma of being abandoned by her maternal family. Paulina Del Valle is rich, having been the strategic mind behind her husband's business ventures, which included importing fruit from Chile and buying land where there would soon be railroads built. She is also of gigantic proportions, and loves shocking people.

Paulina Del Valle decides to move back to Chile with Aurora. After her first husband died, she lost her social status in San Francisco's society. Furthermore, she would be even richer in Chile than she would be in America. Her long-time British butler, Williams, has an interesting proposal: marry him so he can improve his social status and she can have someone looking out for her and the family in Chile. Despite the differences in their ages and social status, Paulina accepts, enjoying the confusion their marriage causes in Chile.

In Chile, Aurora grows up and slowly begins to discover the truth about her past and her mother's family.

..............................................................................................................................

I liked this book. Isabel Allende always writes something a little different. Paulina Del Valle was a very amusing character in what was otherwise a very serious book.

[youritalianbookpal]

@murielstacy (who is always a dear) asked for book recs based on this ask game:

16. a book you'd recommend to your younger self

If I think about the books that "changed my life", I think they changed my life because I read them at the right time, so I wouldn't suggest any of these to a younger version of myself.

With this being said, I think there's quite a few books I've read as an adult that would have changed a lot in my life, if I had read them as a kid or teen. Like, what if I had read something like World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil when I was 11 or 16?

54. a book with the best opening line

Part of me wants to be basic and say something like Anna Karenina, but my first thought was Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert:

"Once upon a time, Chloe Brown died.

Nearly.

It happened on a Tuesday afternoon, of course. Disturbing things always seemed to happen on Tuesdays. Chloe suspected that day of the week was cursed, but thus far, she'd only shared her suspicions via certain internet forums-and with Dani, the weirdest of her two very weird little sisters. Dani had told Chloe that she was cracked, and that she should try positive affirmations to rid herself of her negative weekday energy."

127. a book you'd read when you're missing somebody

Most of the books by Isabel Allende I've read remind me of my family, especially the women in my family, because we all love reading Allende and we often talk about it. My mom always says she was reading The Infinite Plan the day I was born. If I feel lonely, Portrait in Sepia always helps a lot.

[tomewardbound]

"I was intoxicated by the scent of the damp forest, that sensual aroma of red earth, sap, and roots, the peace of the dense growth guarded by those silent green giants, the mysterious murmur of growing things, the song of unseen waters, the dance of the air through the branches, the whispering of roots and insects, the cooing of gentle ring doves and raucous cries of the chimangos."

— Isabel Allende, "Portrait in Sepia"

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Portrait in Sepia | Author: Isabel Allende | Publisher: HarperVia (2020)

[words--words--words]

I didn't weep when she died. The silence in the room seemed like an error of protocol, because a woman who had lived like Paulina del Valle ought to die operatically, singing, accompanied by an orchestra; instead her farewell was silent, the one discreet thing she did in all her life.

Isabel Allende, Portrait in Sepia (trans. Margaret Sayers Peden).

[agelessphotography]

Photographic Study, Clementina Hawarden, early 1860s

[viridian-pickle]

[ebrusidar]

all about her

[powerlineprincess]

☆and baby, I can see in the dark☆ 2023☆K.E.A Lux Hill☆B&W 35mm☆

[postcard-from-the-past]

"Portrait of Judy", photography by Jeanloup Seiff, 1964

American vintage postcard

[clarabowlover]

Silent Screen Stunning Actress

Katherine Grant (1920's)

[kalliope-amorphous]

Photography: Kalliope Amorphous

[betomad]

Edmund Teske.  Man with Mask (George Hermes, Topanga Canyon) , ca. 1965

[tomewardbound]

"'Light is the language of photography, the soul of the world.'" — Isabel Allende, "Portrait in Sepia"