The beginning of the novel shines a light on an often-forgotten conflict, dwarfed by the magnitude of what was to come three years later. The story then chronicles their adventures in this strange, faraway new country: the eponymous ‘long petal of the sea’ first given this name by Neruda in “Cuando de Chile”. We follow the Dalmau family’s escape from Spain at the dawn of the Civil War to their journey to Chile aboard Pablo Neruda’s fabled Winnipeg. Isabel Allende evokes these myths throughout her newest novel, A Long Petal of the Sea, which recounts the true story of the Dalmau family across the 20th century. From the French Revolution to Garibaldi’s March on Rome, to even the tale of Romulus and Remus, these founding myths exist as an indelible mark on any historical timeline. Each country has a founding myth: a story (whether it is semi-fictitious or one recorded on a specific date) that is central to its identity and exists in its citizens’ collective consciousness.
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