My Name Is Emilia del Valle: A Novel, Isabel Allende author, Frances Riddle, translator, Coral Peale, Johnathan McClain. Narrators
The basic ideas of the book are simple. Emilia Del Valle was born in 1866 to Molly Walsh. Molly had been preparing for her life as a nun, but instead, the novice was seduced by Gonzalo Andrés del Valle, of Chile. When she discovers she is pregnant, she is disgraced and forced to leave the convent. Fortunately, shortly afterward, she meets Francisco Claro, a kind teacher who wants to marry her. When she gives birth to her daughter, Emilia del Valle Claro, Francisco happily raises and loves her. Emilia is a very precocious child who grows up to be an aggressive young woman seeking a career path not open to women. She also supports the suffragettes and equal rights for women. Her “father” always encourages her to realize her dreams. Her mother warns her about how she should behave and not to blindly trust men for her support.
Molly Walsh wanted her daughter to know about her real paternity. She wanted Gonzalo del Valle to own up to his responsibility, but he had abandoned Molly and Emilia. For years, Emilia was ignored by him and to her, Franciso Claro, known as Don Pancho, was her true father. He loved her, and she loved him. When she decided to be a writer, he supported her goals over her mother’s objections. She began by writing “dime-store” type novels under an assumed male name, Brandon J. Price. When she achieved a bit of success, she applied for a job with William Randolph Hearst’s newspaper, The Daily Examiner, and was engaged to write under her assumed name. She discovered that her mother and other women were the best sources for information for her books and her future journalism career. Although, at first, she never reveals that she is a female, so no one knows her real identity except for her immediate family and a few fellow newsmen, she does eventually demand that she be able to have her own feminine byline.
She worked with Eric Whelan, a man who would train her, and unexpectedly, come to mean much more to her. As her writing improved and is enjoyed, her editor decides to send her to Chile to cover the civil strife there. She demands to be able to kill off “Brandon” and use her own name. In 1891, there is a Civil War in Chile. Eric Whelan is assigned to go with her as a war correspondent. While in Chile, she meets her birth father. She learns that he is dying and wishes to repent for his youthful sins and acknowledge her birth. At first, she resists, but then to satisfy his last wishes, she relents. One of the things he leaves her is a parcel of land in a remote, unwelcoming area of Chile. After the war, instead of returning home with Eric, whom she has pledged to marry, she insists on visiting the property. She does not return to America. She seems to have disappeared. Eric does not give up. He pursues her trail and tries to locate her.
Throughout her young life, Emilia faces many challenges and overcomes them. A woman in a man’s world, she forcefully, aggressively, inserts herself into their world. She aids in treating the wounded and dying in Chile during their Civil War, performing duties she is unskilled in, but always tries to learn and improve upon. Sometimes it is difficult to believe that Emilia, at only 17, was so creative or assertive that she was able to overcome societal norms and get a job writing and publishing novels, a career unwelcoming, like most, to women. Then, even more difficult to believe, still so young, she applies for and obtains a job writing for one of the earliest Hearst family newspapers. Also, in the late 1800’s, her sexual awakening, coupled with her cavalier dismissal of premarital sex, with random men, especially after her mother’s austere teachings because of her own life experience with Gonzalo, seemed to require the suspension of disbelief. She seems to be a rather promiscuous adult, yet her character. while assertive, had seemed above reproach until she moved to New York. Perhaps it was “Don Pancho”, the nickname of Francisco, who as a wonderful teacher and guide, gave her the encouragement needed to be and go wherever her dreams inspired her.
The book is written with beautiful prose. The translator did an excellent job.