49 pages • 1 hour read
Isabel Allende, Transl. Margaret Sayers PedenA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content Warning: This section includes discussion of domestic abuse, including child abuse and sexual abuse. It also contains a brief mention of grooming.
Eva Luna narrates the story of her birth. She is born into an impoverished household in an unnamed country, to a mother named Consuelo and a father identified only as “an Indian with yellow eyes [. . .] from the place where the hundred rivers meet” (1). Consuelo herself was born in a jungle region but knows little about her ancestry. As a baby, she is found wandering alone and taken in by Catholic missionaries.
At age 12, Consuelo is sent to the Little Sisters of Charity convent in the unnamed country’s capital city, where she spends three dreary years. Under the leadership of a dictator nicknamed “El Benefactor,” the country modernizes and enjoys the wealth brought in by its rich stores of petroleum, but the convent remains a silent and sterile place. Though Consuelo is an eager student of theology, she cannot connect to the Catholic god.
Due to Consuelo’s ability to sit still for hours, some of the nuns think she is having spiritual visions, but the Mother Superior recognizes that she is daydreaming.
By these authors
Appearance Versus Reality
View Collection
Books on Justice & Injustice
View Collection
Books that Feature the Theme of...
View Collection
Community
View Collection
Hispanic & Latinx American Literature
View Collection
Historical Fiction
View Collection
Magical Realism
View Collection
Romance
View Collection
Spanish Literature
View Collection