Daughter of Fortune
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| Author | Isabel Allende |
|---|---|
| Original title (if not in English) | Hija de La Fortuna |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Spanish |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Released | 1999 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-06-019492-8 (hardback edition) |
Daughter of Fortune (original Spanish title Hija de la fortuna) is a novel by Isabel Allende, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in February of 2000.
[edit] Plot summary
This takes place in 1840s Chile. Eliza Sommers is a young Chilean girl raised and educated by English Anglican siblings Rose and Jeremy Sommers, and their sailor brother John Sommers, who were colonists living in the port of Valparaiso, ever since they found her on their doorstep, and taught in the art of cooking by the Mapuche Indian Mama Fresia. Over most of Part 1, we read about her origins and upbringing, and her maturity. After listening to a story Miss Rose told her about her first love, Eliza falls in love with Joaquin Andieta, a young Chilean man who was concerned about his mother, living in poverty. The young couple have an affair, ultimately resulting in Eliza getting pregnant. Soon, news of gold being discovered in California reaches Chile, and Joaquin goes out to California in search of a fortune. Wanting to follow her lover, Eliza goes to California, with the help of her Chinese zhong yi friend, Tao Chi'en, in the bowels of a ship headed by a Dutch Lutheran captain, Vincent Katz.
In the beginning of Part 2, we read about Tao's past, from his early life in poverty, to his apprenticeship to a master acupuncturist, and his ill-fated marriage to Lin, a young and pretty, but frail girl who dies after a brief marriage. Lin's spirit later comes in to help her widowed husband at crucial points for Tao in later parts of the book. During the journey to California, Eliza, due to her pregnancy, is frail and sick, and later suffers a miscarriage. As soon as Eliza and Tao set foot in San Francisco, due to there being all men, Eliza wears a Chinese boy's cheongsam. Eliza sets up a successful Chilean restaurant, and Tao becomes a successful zhong yi. Tao, after seeing the greed and brothels in San Francisco, loses most of his faith in America. Eliza then sets on her journey to find Joaquin, using a male cowboy's disguise and the moniker Elias Andieta, and claiming to be Joaquin's brother. Meanwhile in Valparaiso, Rose and Jeremy are shocked to find that Eliza has disappeared. When John comes and asks about her whereabouts, Rose reveals a well-kept, shocking secret about him: John is Eliza's father, having had her with an unnamed Chilean woman. Having the feeling that her daughter went to California, John sets sail for San Francisco.
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