Of Love and Shadows: A Novel [Paperback]

This profoundly moving tale of love, bravery, and tragedy byNew York Timesbestselling author Isabel Allende brings to life a country ruled with an iron fist—and the men and women who dare to challenge it.

Irene Beltrán is a force to be reckoned with. As a magazine journalist, an unusual profession for a woman with her privileged upbringing, she is constantly challenging the oppressive regime. Her investigative partner is photographer Francisco Leal, the son of impoverished Spanish Marxist émigrés. Together, they are an inseparable team and—despite Irene’s engagement to an army captain—form a passionate connection. When an assignment leads them to uncover an unspeakable crime, they are determined to reveal the truth in a nation overrun by terror and violence. Together, they will risk everything for justice—and, ultimately, to embrace the passion that binds them.“Allende is a smashing storyteller who brings the most minor characters vividly to life. A tale of love and political commitment.”“Of Love and Shadows has all the ingredients of excellent fiction: tense drama, rich detail and characterization, and timeless themes.”“Isabel Allende is a writer of deep conviction, but she knows that in the end it is people, not issues, who matter most. The people in Of Love and Shadows are so real, their triumphs and defeats are so faithful to the truth of human existence, that we see the world in miniature. This is precisely what fiction should do.”“Allende has demonstrated that she is, beyond question, one of the great Latin American writers of today…It is a rare and exciting experience to discover the work of a writer as good as Isabel Allende.... Allende’s writing...is so warm, so human, so filled with love for her characters and her country, that in the end human nature, in its goodness and its strength, counteracts the horror and casts light and love where beforelƒE