Isabel Allende · 2019 · sea

Isabel Allende's 2019 novel of exile and belonging, following Victor Dalmau and Roser Bruguera from the ruins of the Spanish Civil War to a new life in Chile aboard the real ship Winnipeg, chartered by the poet Pablo Neruda to carry two thousand refugees across the Atlantic in 1939. Decades later, Pinochet's coup exiles them yet again, to Venezuela, before they can finally come home. Drawn in part from Allende's own life, it is a sweeping tribute to courage, resilience and love across a century of upheaval.

1. 1
   Barcelona

   As Franco's forces take Catalonia, the young doctor Victor Dalmau and the pregnant Roser Bruguera are swept up in the Republican defeat.

2. 2
   Argeles-sur-Mer

   Over the Pyrenees into France and the squalid beach internment camp at Argeles-sur-Mer, among hundreds of thousands of refugees.

3. 3
   Bordeaux

   A marriage of necessity wins them berths on the Winnipeg, the ship Pablo Neruda has chartered to carry two thousand exiles to Chile.

4. 4
   Valparaiso

   Across the Atlantic and through the Panama Canal to Chile, the long petal of sea and wine and snow, and a hard-won new life.

5. 5
   Caracas

   Until Pinochet's coup in 1973 drives them into exile once more, to Venezuela and the city of Caracas.

6. 6
   Santiago

   And at last, when democracy returns, the journey home to Santiago, exiles no more.