My Name is Emilia del Valle

• Author: Isabel Allende
• Genre: Historical Fiction
• Publication Date: May 6, 2025
• Publisher: Ballantine Books

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In this spellbinding historical novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea and The Wind Knows My Name, a young writer journeys to South America to uncover the truth about her father—and herself.

In San Francisco 1866, an Irish nun, left pregnant and abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia Del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman.

To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of sixteen, she begins to publish pulp fiction under a man’s pen name. When these fictional worlds can’t contain her sense of adventure any longer, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at the San Francisco Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan.

As she proves herself, her restlessness returns, until an opportunity arises to cover a brewing civil war in Chile. She seizes it, along with Eric, and while there, begins to uncover the truth about her father and the country that represents her roots. But as the war escalates, Emilia finds herself in danger and at a crossroads, questioning both her identity and her destiny.

A riveting tale of self-discovery and love from one of the most masterful storytellers of our time, My Name is Emilia del Valle introduces a character who will never let hold of your heart.

Isabel Allende is one of my favorite authors ever since I blew through The House of the Spirits years ago. I always make her books a priority. Not only is she the first author of magical realism whose book I actually enjoyed, but I’ve also loved reading her historical fiction, no matter where it is set. So it was clear to me that I’d be reading this book, whether I got approved through NetGalley or had to wait until it was released. 

You know the kind of books that are written in a way that manage to always get me to identify with a character, enjoy the journey through their life, and always fit just right when I read them, no matter the location or characters or time period. So I was already expecting that same feeling with this book, and Allende didn’t let me down. 

We are introduced to Emilia del Valle, an Irish-Chilean woman, who grows up with her saintly mother, who was a candidate to become a nun before she was wooed by a Chilean aristocrat, then left alone and pregnant with nothing to give her daughter except his last name. However, she marries a Mexican-American man [her Papo] who raises Emilia as his own, offering her love, attention, and security, while encouraging her self-confidence, and teaching her never to let anything or anyone hold her back. It’s really easy to love both Emilia and her Papo, as well as her mother, who has kept the nunnish habit of selflessly giving to the needy, while also nursing her resentment towards the man who abandoned her. The whole family is immensely likable, but especially Emilia. 

Emilia herself is intelligent and confident, and although the story is set in the late 1800s, she’s a modern thinker. The fact that her parents encourage her in whatever she chooses to do only helps her take on increasing challenges with success. She dreams of being a writer, and by her teen years, she is writing dime mystery novels under a male pen name. But she sets her sights higher, and soon finds herself writing a column at the San Francisco Examiner and paired with Eric Whelan, a man who writes news pieces, while her column is more of a human interest topic. 

Always thinking out of the box, it felt like each situation or subject that Emilia approached was approached with interest and honest curiosity, and her writing earned her a devoted following. As the newspaper is looking to cover the civil war in Chile, Emilia mentions that she is part Chilean, and speaks fluent Spanish, and is sent to Chile along with Eric to cover both the war and her human interest topics. While she is there, she reaches out to the prominent family of her father.

The story is a fascinating one. It is set at a turbulent time in history, and focuses on a part of the world and events that I was just learning about through this book. A lot of times, I will follow a book up with a nonfiction about the same events, just to see the historical facts and learn more about Chile. This is one of those books. Seeing the world through Emilia’s eyes felt intrepid and exciting, while also highlighting some of the challenges she faced as a woman in a those times, when reporting on anything more than the social scene was viewed as ‘too strenuous’ for women. Her byline is attributed to her male pen name, but she dreams of being able to report under her own name.

Chile was a revelation. Emilia fell in love with the country, and by the end of the book, so did I. It makes me want to travel alongside her and experience all of the things too, but I was born more than a century too late to see this version of the world. As a reporter, she faces the world with an enthusiasm and curiosity that makes every experience an adventure, and it was exciting to read her tale. 

Overall, this is one of my new favorite books as well as Emilia becoming a new favorite character in literature. After reading more than a few of Allende’s books, I’m always surprised at how she manages to create characters and situations that simply draw the reader in and builds an emotional rapport to at least one character in every one of her books. With her usual unwillingness to shy away from approaching heavier topics, she discusses themes of misogyny, racism, colonization, and the classism rampant in Chilean society, while also addressing them with sensitivity. I normally include both positives and negatives of any book I read, but I didn’t notice any negative things in the story, so I didn’t try looking too hard for flaws. This is a book that I can eagerly recommend to anyone looking to learn more about history or just to ease into reading a literary legend of South America. No matter which of her books you choose, you can’t go wrong—she’s a talented author who somehow manages to make every book of hers that I read into my new favorite. So go on and check it out for yourself! 

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