Member Reviews

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  1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

  • Rated 4 stars

  “It has been years since I read Daughter of Fortune, but I have no problem based on my fond memories in recommending it to other readers. The novel has two parts. The first part is about Eliza, a Chilean girl, growing up and falling in love with Joaquin. Before they can marry they have an affair and she carries his child. He leaves for California when gold is discovered. Eliza follows her sweetie, disguised, to California. The second half is what she finds there. Sure, it's a little like a soap opera, but it's well written, and a real page turner. Women might enjoy this more than men.”

  sthurner wrote this review Sunday, June 1 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

  • Rated 5 stars

  “This was the first novel I read about the gold rush in California and I was absolutely floored with the brilliance of the imagery. Allende really made the whole scene come to life. Like in Forever Amber, the main character is an incredibly strong woman. She leaves Chile to follow her lover when she discovers she's pregnant and what follows is an amazing adventure like I've never before read. This isn't your typical Historical Romance. I agree with some, that the ending could have been better, and the follow up novels which I've tried to read, were not as gripping as this one and aside from getting a brief update to satisfy my appetite for these characters, I didn't finish them.”

  StorybookBelle82 wrote this review Wednesday, May 7 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “Isabel Allende cannot write a bad book, and they are all different and all brilliant. this is not exception.”

  Kate F wrote this review 7 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 3 stars

  “What I liked about this book best was that it gave me insights into what things were like in the times of the gold rush. ”

  carolynmorain wrote this review 13 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 5 stars

  “A Romeo and Juliet conflict that spans generations, a charming, moving, engrossing saga that will sweep any reader completely away.”

  Kathleen D wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 3 stars

  “The book is interesting in its mix of cultures and races; English, Chiliean, and Chinese mainly. The book is really about the coming of age of Eliza Sommers, of how she grew to embrace her womanhood and herself as a person. However there are tangential background pieces of the people she is closely linked to which brings the whole mix of cultures together. It was an ok read.”

  Tien H wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “First half of book is a romantic novel about a woman trapped in her situation, but then she takes this bold risk and becomes someone else - someone braver in charge of her own destiny. And the insights (real or imagined we don't know) into life for a woman during the gold rush were compelling. I think it is well worth the time reading it. It did just sort of end by wrapping everything up -- perhaps the vision of the sequel was already in motion -- but that was all right given how good the rest of it was.”

  Stephanie K wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 0 stars

  “I just used to read this book going to work on the train, my mind was captured i could not put it down, the rich storyline.”

  Paul Williams wrote this review Sunday, September 14 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 5 stars

  “Compelling story with brilliant imagery...can be drawn out, but give it a chance. FANTASTIC!”

  Elizabeth R wrote this review Sunday, September 7 2008. ( reply | permalink )