Books Set in North America: Caribbean and Louisiana

Island Beneath the Sea, by Isabel Allende (2010)

Island Beneath the Sea, by Isabel Allende, is a historical novel that takes place on the Caribbean island of Saint-Domingue (current day Haiti) and New Orleans from the late 1700s, through the French Revolution slave rebellion of Saint-Domingue of 1804, and the Louisiana Purchase.  The novel follows a young slave girl, Zarité, known as Tété.  The novel is mostly told in third person, but some chapters are narrated by Zarité.

In the 1700s, wealthy French plantation owners ran and operated sugar plantations on Saint-Domingue.  Young Toulouse Valmorain left France to travel to Saint-Domingue to assist his father with the family’s plantation.  He intended to stay only a few weeks, but when he arrived, he found his father dying and the sugar plantation in deplorable conditions.  He soon found himself inheriting the sugar plantation, complete with hundreds of slaves.  When he married, he purchased Tété for his spoiled, Spanish/Cuban bride.

Compared to his neighboring plantation owners, Valmorain was relatively kind, however, he allowed his ruthless overseer handle discipline.  When his wife became ill, Tété tended to her.  Valmorain found the young Tété attractive, and soon called her to his bed.  As a slave, Tété had no alternative but to obey his call, even though she was just a child when he first began his sexual relationshio (rape) with her.  She bore him two children, the first of which was quickly whisked away from her, while the second, was raised in the plantation home along with Valmorain’s legitimate son.

The novel described the beginning of the slave revolt, which was led by the historical figure of Toussaint Louverture.  When Tété learned that the rebellion was approaching her master’s plantation, and that the master and his house slaves would be slaughter, she convincee Valmorain to pack up his family and leave the plantation in the middle of the night.  Eventually, they arrived in Louisiana, where Valmorain, through his brother-in-law, had purchased property and made contacts.

Valmorain had promised to free Tété and her daughter, and had given her a written document to that effect, however, he also convinced her that her freedom would not become effective until she turned 30 years old.

The novel vividly describes life in New Orleans under Spanish rule in the late 1700s before it came under French, then American governance.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book with its glimpse into this historical period.

Read:  January 21, 2020

5 Stars

Books Set in South America: Chile

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (1982 / English translation 1985)

The House of the Spirits is a family saga, following the lives of three women ~ Clara del Valle Trueba, Blanca Trueba, and Alba Trueba ~ and their life with the patriarch of the family, Estaban Trueba. It is also a political novel depicting life in an unnamed South American country during the 20th Century. The country, however, is thinly disguised as Chile.

The novel begins around the year 1900 when Clara and her older sister, Rosa, are young girls living in the capital city. Clara has magical powers and has the ability to call spirits and move objects without touching them.

Rosa is engaged to the handsome, but cruel and difficult Estaban Trueba. After her accidental death by poison, Estaban retreats to the abandoned family estate, Tres María. He rebuilds the farm, which becomes very profitable and he becomes quite wealthy. He has a very short temper and is unpleasant to his peasants. He also has a habit of grabbing young peasant girls and raping them. His first such conquest was the young Pancha García. He tired of her when she became pregnant and dumped her back to her family. Her son was given the name Estaban García, although he was never formally recognized by Estaban Trueba. His son, he also names Estaban García.

Several years after Rosa’s death, Clara suddenly announces that she will marry Estaban. Estaban comes into the city, sees Clara and they marry. Estaban takes Clara to Tres María, where she gives birth to her daughter, Blanca. Clara later gives birth to twin sons, Jamie and Nicholás.
Blanca grow up on the remote family farm and forms a close friendship with Pedro Tercero García, son of Estaban’s foreman and nephew of Pancha. When they are teenagers, they become lovers, secretly sneaking out of the house at night to meet by the river. Blanca finds herself pregnant and Estaban forces her into a marriage with Count Jean de Satigny. The Count becomes Blanca and Pedro Tercero García’s daughter, Alba, putative father.

The Count is not interested in Blanca sexually, so at first she is fine with the arrangement, which she knows is a financial one arranged by her father. When she learns of his deviant sexual perversions, however, she calls it quits and returns to her mother in the city.

Around the time of Blanca's marriage, Estaban had beaten Clara and knocked out some of her teeth. After this, she never speaks with him again, although they continue to occupy the same house in the city until her death on her granddaughter, Alba's seventh birthday.

Estaban begins to take an interest in politics. He becomes a Senator. Politically, however, the country is changing. Estaban is in the Conservative and has a strong hatred for the Marxist and Communist parties that are growing in influence. He is shocked when his son, Jamie becomes a doctor for the poor, and his granddaughter, Alba falls in with a Marxist lover. He believes, however, that his position in politics can save the family.

The story line began to drag once the political situation became the dominant theme of the novel.

Isabel Allende is Chilean, although she was born in Lima, Peru in 1942. Her uncle was Chilean President Salvador Allende, who was killed in a coup in 1973, similar to the one described in the novel. He was the first Marxist leader of Chile. The dictator, General Augusto Pinochet, backed by the CIA, seized power, beginning a reign of terror that lasted nearly two decades.

In real life, Allende’s grandfather was a strong personality with a violent temper, much the way Estaban Trueba was depicted. Thus, although The House of the Spirits is Allende’s first novel, much of the story line was drawn from her family life and the politics surrounding her in her homeland.

Read: March 31, 2010