Isabel Allende brings forth a remarkable novel of bravery, passion and discovery with ‘Daughter of Fortune’. Set in the mid nineteenth century, this story unravels the adventurous life of a young girl named Eliza.
Being dropped off as an infant at the doorstep of the Sommers’, Eliza is raised by the well-known, aristocratic Sommers family in Chile. She is fortunate enough to be accepted and loved by the family.
On a fateful day in her sixteenth year, Eliza falls in love with a penniless revolutionary named Joaquin Andieta. Knowing that their alliance would never be approved by the Sommers, Eliza and Joaquin conduct their love affair on the sly. All is well until Joaquin decides to leave for California with the hopes of making a fortune in the gold rush.
A couple of months later, the much in love Eliza takes the help of a Chinese cook to sail to California. During the course of the journey, Eliza suffers a miscarriage and is taken seriously ill. It is only the ministrations of the cook, who actually is a skilled physician, that helps her survive. So begins a friendship which would bind them together forever.
Once in California, Eliza now disguised as a boy embarks on an adventure which leads her into the discovery of freedom and true love.
Allende portrays Eliza as the daring, passionate girl who transforms into a woman ahead of her times.
Interesting.