Silence of the Lambs
How to capture an insane serial murderer? Why not confront the
cannibalistic Dr. Hannibal Lecter and probe his twisted mind in an
attempt to hunt down your wanted man? Well, that was ambitious FBI
agent Clarice Starling's intention. But her scheme opens Clarice to
secrets even more frightening and dangerous.
From the Publisher
Hannibal Lecter. The ultimate villain of modern fiction who scared the
world silent. A young FBI trainee. An evil genius locked away for
unspeakable crimes. A plunge into the darkest chambers of a
psychopath's mind -- in the deadly search for a serial killer...
An instant classic of chilling psychological suspense...a
critically-acclaimed audio production of unforgettable intensity...From
the tormenting words of the homicidal maniac Dr. Hannibal Lecter and
the flesh-rending depravity of an elusive killer to the sheer courage of a
young FBI novice, who risks her life to track him down and stop the
Aspiring Writers
Daughter of Fortune
The Barnes & Noble Review
Isabel Allende's wide international readership will be well satisfied
after the six-year wait for Daughter of Fortune, an ambitious romance
laden with drama and sensuality. The Chilean author came to
international recognition with her debut novel, the highly acclaimed The
House of the Spirits (1985), a multigenerational saga of the Trueba
family culminating in the horrors of the country's 1973 military coup.
Allende has been consistently carving out her literary niche ever since,
through the novels Of Love and Shadows (1984), Eva Luna (1988),
and The Infinite Plan (1993); with short stories, a memoir, and eclectic
musings on the erotic and culinary interspersed between them. In these
works, Allende established an unmistakable voice and a set of
concerns that form the essential foundations on which Daughter of
Fortune is built, but beyond which the book attempts to expand.
The story begins in mid-19th century Valparaíso, Chile, then a thriving
British port and the most compelling of the narrative's many settings.
Enter Jeremy and Rose Sommers, a brother and sister pair who have
established themselves at the head of expatriate society, valiantly
tending the delicate flower of Victorian ways on the harsh alien soil.
When an infant is abandoned on their doorstep, Rose considers the
child a divine consolation for her forgone motherhood, and the
foundling completes their unconventional familial situation. The baby,
whom they name Eliza, is destined to become a courageous and
deeply individual young woman. She grows up between worlds,
spending her days half with her native-Chilean nanny immersed in the
bustle of the kitchen and household chores, and half with Rose,
practicing the piano, shopping for small luxuries, and bathing in tubs of
skin-softening milk. The tension in her divided identity climaxes when
Eliza encounters Joaquín Andieta, a destitute but passionate
revolutionary, and immediately falls madly in love with him. After a
somewhat unfulfilling affair, Joaquín dashes off to California to try his
luck at the newly-discovered gold mines. Soon after Joaquín leaves,
Eliza discovers that she is pregnant, and circumstances force her to
pursue him as a stowaway in the hold of a ship.
The events that follow this crucial decision fall like a series of
dominoes set in motion. Eliza meets the traditional Chinese healer Tao
Chi'en, who will become a crucial part of her life. She has a
miscarriage and nearly dies in the two-month sea journey; upon
disembarking, she is forced to disguise herself as a Chinese and later a
Chilean youth; under the guise of looking for her "brother" Joaquín, she
voyages up and down the bitter landscape of the Gold Rush,
eventually settling for a time as a piano player in a brothel of kindly
whores. Despite an astonishing amount of historical detail, Allende is
weaker on American soil, flattening characters and situations with a
heavy hand. Ultimately, Tao tracks Eliza down and brings her back to
San Francisco, where together they vigorously set about extricating
prostitutes from the evil clutches of the avaricious madams in
Chinatown. All this time, Eliza has not ceased her search for Joaquín,
but eventually a shocking twist of events causes her to finally relinquish
him. Liberated at last, she and Tao are now free to act on the love
they have gradually found for each other.
Allende deftly weaves a lush tale of four continents into this absorbing
page-turner. Her writing is passionate, earthy, and sensorially
overwhelming, richly evocative of exotic locales, sexual exploration,
and the driving force of destiny. Yet the novel's epic proportions and
scope are at times achieved at the expense of character development
and realism: Jeremy and Rose verge on fossilized Victorian clichés,
while Tao is far too much the stereotypical Chinaman, another of the
"mute ants" invading the American Pacific Coast in droves. Allende's
storytelling, while retaining the spellbinding quality of The House of the
Spirits, here navigates new territory. Perhaps deliberately attempting to
evade the label of magical realism that has been conferred, all too
often, upon her earlier work, Allende skirts around the supernaturalism
her readers may be expecting. Gone are the clairvoyance and long
green tresses of House, the closest Daughter comes to magic is in a
brief visitation from Tao's dead wife Lin. On the other hand, the
feminism and the emphasis upon journeys of personal liberation which
have come to be associated with Allende are everywhere in evidence
in this text. In fact, it reads in many ways like a feminist allegory, in
which the conventions of Victorian society, Chilean chauvinism, and
even American materialism are eschewed in favor of multicultural
blending and a blurring of gender roles. In the end, after experiencing
the rough new land of exploding possibilities in the guise of a man,
Eliza is sufficiently liberated to freely choose her femininity for herself in
her new life with Tao. It is an optimistic and triumphant conclusion to
an extravagant odyssey.
—Monica Ferrell
From the Publisher
From acclaimed international bestselling author Isabel Allende comes
this dazzling historical novel, a sweeping portrait of an unconventional
woman carving her own destiny in an era defined by violence, passion,
and adventure. An orphan raised in Valparaiso, Chile, by a Victorian
spinster and her rigid brother, young, vivacious Eliza Sommers follows
her lover to California during the Gold Rush of 1849 -- a danger-filled
quest that will become a momentous journey of transformation. In this
rough-and-tumble world of panhandlers and prostitutes, immigrants
and aristocrats, Eliza will discover a new life of freedom,
independence, and a love greater than any ever dreamed.
From The Critics
Miami Herald
A passionate storyteller….Her writing is lyrical, mystical, ribald, funny.
Washington Post
Like a slow, seductive lover, Allende teases, tempts and titillates with
mesmerizing stories.
Boston Globe Magazine
Allende is one of the most important novelists to emerge from Latin
America in the past decade.
Time
Allende projects a woman's point of view with confidence, control and
an expansive definition of romance as a fact of life.
Entertainment Weekly
Allende details her plot and settings richly.