The House of Spirits

by Isabel Allende

Genre:

Magical Realism

Synopsis:

This is the story of the Trueba family spannig through three generations, weaving the personal and the political into a universal story of love, magic, and fate.

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.

Commentary:

This book was recommended to me by a close friend when we were in high school. From the first time I read it, it became one of my favourites. Magical Realism is an important genre in Latin American literature, and this novel it's a great example of how good it can be.