Why a Booktrail?
1800s: An epic romance set in the author’s homeland of Chile and a story which will further explain Daughter of Fortune
Portrait in Sepia
What you need to know before your trail
19th century Chile
Aurora del Valle suffers a brutal trauma that causes her to lose her memories of the first five years of her life. Although she is raised by her grandmother and grows up in a privileged environment, she is nevertheless tormented by horrible nightmares.
Suffering from a betrayal at the hands of the man she loves, she starts to explore the mystery of her past and what she finds there will change her and her world for ever.
Travel Guide
This is the story of Aurora (Lai Ming) de Valle and her journey into her past. Her exotic ancestry includes a mix of many cultures such as Chinese and Chilean and is both her story and that of South America.
ChinaTown, San Francisco.
“The savage life of the Chinese quarter was seething outside…..”
“In Chinatown the clocks obey no rules….”
San Francisco is the city she knows well – from their home near Union Square and the outlandish mansion on Nob Hill or the bustle of trade taking place at the port of the city, It is a teeming hot bed of life.
As she tries to unlock her memories however, the locations change from California to Chile, across to Europe and back to Chile again. All the while, one sentence remains at the forefront of her mind
“Memory is fiction. We select the brightest and the darkest, ignoring what we are ashamed of, and so embroider the broad tapestry of our lives”
Chile
Chile’s tumultuous political history – is the main character in the novel as well as being one which stands in the background as well. The coup of 1973 started Chile and Allende on a political journey which is portrayed here – with the same links from San Francisco to Chile as the author’s journey herself. The mixture of cultures here which make up both Chilean and California society is one which Aurora now finds herself appreciating and having moved from San Francisco to chile, appropriate too. The landscape is at once charming and sedate –
“Santiago was a beautiful city situated in a fertile valley and surrounded by tall mountains purple in summer and snow covered in winter”
Aurora’s story is the story of Chile – and all of its political machinations and war. The War of the Pacific is one particular event which stands out for its brutality and relevance to the history at large – as seen through the eyes of Severo del Valle.
The title, Portrait in Sepia refers to Aurora’s interest in photography which she uses as a way of documenting and collecting her experiences. She documents her life, future and that of her country.
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