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4.5 stars rounded up
Violeta is born in 1920 in South America during the Spanish flu, the first girl after five boys and several miscarriages. Violeta tells her story to someone she loves when she’s approaching her 100th birthday—during yet another pandemic, this time COVID 19. During those hundred years, there is the upheaval of the Great Depression, marriage to someone she doesn’t love and a long-lasting but emotionally and sometimes physical abusive affair to a man she does. She has children and makes money, but it’s difficult for her to control her money because she’s a female.

Themes of women being able to control when they give birth and controlling what money they can earn permeate her hundred years on Earth. There’s government overreach and women fighting for the right to vote and being able to love who they love. It's ridiculous that we’re still battling those same issues. It’s a different time and a different country here in America, yet only some things have gotten better. Sadly the cliche about two steps forward and one step back is still applicable.

Allende is a gifted writer and this epic story that reaches across continents and decades makes for an absorbing read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES JANUARY 25.