First published 2022
Violeta del Valle enters the world during a thunderstorm in 1920, the only daughter among five brothers in South America. The Spanish flu sweeps across her homeland just as she takes her first breath, while echoes of the Great War still shake the globe. Her father's foresight saves the family from that plague, but the Great Depression strips away their comfortable urban existence. They flee to the remote countryside, where Violeta grows into womanhood and meets her first love. She narrates her hundred-year journey through a letter to someone she cherishes above all others. Her tale weaves through passionate romances and crushing heartbreak, periods of grinding poverty and comfortable wealth, devastating losses and moments of pure joy. History shapes her path as she witnesses the struggle for women's rights, the rise and collapse of dictators, and not one but two pandemics. Violeta's fierce spirit, unwavering resolve, and sharp wit sustain her through a century of chaos and transformation.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: epic, family-saga, unreliable-narrator
Setting: South America
Period: 1920s, Great Depression, 20th Century, 21st Century
322 pages · Paperback · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: depression