In 19th-century Chile, Aurora del Valle experiences a brutal trauma that erases the first five years of her life from her memory. Raised by her ambitious grandmother Paulina del Valle, she grows up in a privileged environment, free from many of the restrictions that oppress women of her time, but plagued by terrible nightmares. When she is faced with the betrayal of a loved one and loneliness, Aurora decides to explore the mystery of her past. Told through the voice of a young woman, this is a superb historical romance and a wonderful family saga in which we meet again some of the characters from Fortune's Daughter and The House of the Spirits , the pinnacle of Isabel Allende's work.