Isabel Allende's latest historical novel draws from her time at a women's magazine

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

While crafting her latest novel, Isabel Allende says she wanted to tell the story of the Chilean Civil War of 1891 from the perspective of a neutral party. She decided to make her protagonist a female writer who uses a male pen name and convinces an editor to hire her as a war correspondent. In today's episode, Allende joins Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes to talk about My Name is Emilia Del Valle. They discuss the feminist spirit throughout the author's body of work, their shared interest in pushing back against dominant narratives, and Fernandes' personal relationship to Allende's work.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. Think about the one book that changed your
0:08.1	life. The book where you can clearly see there's the person you were before reading it and
0:13.1	after. If you could talk to that author, what would you say? For some of us, that's impossible.
0:18.1	Like, for me, Faulkner's been dead for a few decades now, so it's
0:21.7	not like I can hit him up on Instagram. But for here and now Ziba Fernandez, that author was
0:26.8	Isabel Ayende, who just happens to be out with a new historical romance novel titled, My Name is
0:32.6	Amelia Del Valle. They talk about the new book, but also about how AANDE feels about changing the lives of so many people.
0:40.9	That's ahead.
0:42.4	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:47.1	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sources and methods.
0:53.7	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand
0:58.2	why distant events matter here at home.
1:01.3	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:06.6	A new novel from Isabel Allende is always a cause for celebration.
1:12.6	Her best selling works include The House of the Spirits and Eva Luna.
1:17.5	She sold more than 80 million copies in 42 languages.
1:22.4	In 2014, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama.
1:27.1	And Isabel Allende's latest book,
1:30.1	The Historical Novel. My name is Amelia Del Valle, is a page Turner. I can't wait to talk about it and to welcome
1:38.6	to our program, Isabel Allende. Thank you so much for joining us. Well, thank you for having me in your program, Deepa.
1:46.7	After many novels that have won so much acclaim, this latest book of yours, it's a historical novel.
1:52.4	And your main character, Amelia, is born in 1866 in San Francisco to an Irish wannabe nun. after her affair with a Chilean aristocrat. I want to know how
	...

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