From the Bookshelf of Retro Chapter Chicks …

Daughter of Fortune

Isabel Allende

Start date: November 1, 2020

Finish date: December 31, 2020

Discussion: Buddy Reads

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of -2 topics — 797 comments total

Buddy Reads

* Buddy Reads 2025
By Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴… , Founding Retro Chick · 128 posts · 22 views

last updated Aug 03, 2025 05:15AM

* Historical Fiction Timeline Tag
By Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴… , Founding Retro Chick · 226 posts · 26 views

last updated 12 minutes ago

showing 10 of 14 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Mar 29, 2016 Brina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, isabel-allende, family-saga, hispanic-culture, rereads

According to Isabel Allende, the timeless tale she weaves in House of the Spirits begins with the story of Eliza Sommers in Daughter of Fortune. Eliza Sommers is found in a basket as a newborn baby at the Valparaiso, Chile home of Jeremy and Rose Sommers (brother and sister). Rose is only 20 years old but resigned to spinsterhood and immediately feels compassion for the child, takes her in, and decides to raise her like a daughter, much to the admonition of her brother.

We fast forward our tale 1 According to Isabel Allende, the timeless tale she weaves in House of the Spirits begins with the story of Eliza Sommers in Daughter of Fortune. Eliza Sommers is found in a basket as a newborn baby at the Valparaiso, Chile home of Jeremy and Rose Sommers (brother and sister). Rose is only 20 years old but resigned to spinsterhood and immediately feels compassion for the child, takes her in, and decides to raise her like a daughter, much to the admonition of her brother.

We fast forward our tale 16 years. Rose has brought up Eliza to be a young lady worthy of English aristocracy. Eliza has also spent time in the presence of the Del Valle family of Chilean upper class who will play a role in the entire trilogy. Yet, she feels stifled in this life others have chosen for her, so when she encounters Joaquin Andieta for the first time, she is instantly smitten. Andieta is a bastard child with no future in Chile and succumbs to gold fever, leaving for California. He leaves Eliza pregnant, so she decides to take all the jewels meant for her trousseau and runs away from home, determined to find her lover.

The second half of the novel takes place in California in Eliza's futile attempt to find Andieta. While a stowaway on a ship, she miscarries and is nursed back to health by a Chinese doctor named Tao Chi'en, who later becomes her life companion. Tao determines that Eliza should dress like a Chinese boy so as not to be discovered, thus beginning their life in America.

I enjoyed the historical aspects of life during the California gold rush. Still primarily a wild west inhabited by native Americans, California attracts people from all over the world in search of fortune: Chinese, Russians, Australians, Chileans, Peruvians, Mexicans, as well as people from the eastern half of the United States. Because the majority of gold seekers were men, prostitutes struck it rich as well. Eliza posing as a male piano player joins a traveling prostitution troop while Tao makes a name for himself as a healer in Chinatown in San Francisco.

While the fortune alluded to in the title could refer to gold, it could also mean the American Dream. During the 1850s, Tao faced a bleak future in China as a fourth son, yet emerges in California as a respected member of society. Eliza would have been subservient to a husband in Chile, but works as Tao's assistant and harbors a dream of opening a French patisserie. Meanwhile Paulina de la Santa Cruz nee Del Valle operates a successful steamship company transporting produce and high culture from Chile to California financially independent of her husband. Additionally, Allende briefly touches on the interracial romance of Eliza and Tao, which would not have been tolerated in their home countries, yet accepted in a melting pot society like that of 1850s California.

The end of the novel leaves me looking forward to reading its sequel A Portrait in Sepia. It is supposed to bridge the gap between the lives of Eliza and Paulina with the childhood of Clara in House of the Spirits. Because the second half of the book takes place in California rather than Chile, it is devoid of magical realism. This demonstrates to me that Allende is a gifted storyteller in many genres. I am looking forward to completing the trilogy once more and witnesses how she ties all of these stories together. ...more

337 likes · Like · see review

Nov 18, 2021 Maureen rated it really liked it

This is a beautifully written, saga set in Valparaiso and San Francisco.
Eliza Sommers, as an infant was found on the doorstep of Jeremey and Rose Sommers, brother and sister’s home. Eliza is brought up as an upstanding young lady.
She falls in love with Joaquin Andieta. Joaquin has desires to become rich and follow his dream. He desires to go to California and discover gold.
He leaves his mother and Eliza but promises to return.
Eliza realizes that she is with child and decides to join Joaquin i ...more

56 likes · Like · see review

Nov 30, 2012 Book Concierge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: concierge, strong-women, chile, women-writers, library, audio, nature, book-club, latino-literature, california

4.5****
Audio book performed by Blair Brown.

This is an historical novel set during the mid-19th century and taking the reader from South America to China to California during the Gold Rush. The story begins in Valparaiso, Chile, where a baby is left on the doorstep of wealthy British importers. Raised as their child, Eliza Sommers is now a young lady and her family begins to screen available young men to find the perfect suitor. But Eliza has a mind of her own. She falls for a handsome, fiery cle ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Apr 15, 2010 Tasha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

I really enjoyed this book! I love historical fiction yet never really read anything during the SF gold rush period. Really interesting and great characters. I recommend this book.

Second reading 12/2020 (10 years later!): I listened to the audio this time around and it was really good. The writing is wonderful, a strong sense of place and the characters are well-developed. The first time I read this I gave it 4 stars, I'm going between 4.5/5 this time around. I think if I had read it a second ti ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Aug 08, 2019 Kristin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-stars, latin-american, late-modern-1850topresent, immigration-story

Lots of fun info on the beginnings of California (the gold rush that brought settlers faster than they normally would have come) and the pretty awful things that happened between races/sexes during that time.

Some other reviewers thought Allene spent too much time on describing the environment and not enough on the plot (especially the end), but she drops hints (flash-forwards?) along the novel about the character's later years -- so yes, the ending kind of drops off, but you already have the pi ...more

Like · see review