Bloomsbury, £8.99, pp336
Spanning 60 years and two continents, Allendeâs latest novel follows two young Spanish republicans â Victor Dalmau and Roser Bruguera â from the Spanish civil war, through French detention camps and finally to Chile and Venezuela. Roserâs son is the child of Victorâs brother, Guillem, killed in the war, and when Victor decides to take care of them, what begins as a practical arrangement gradually develops into a tender, lasting commitment to each other. Allende examines themes of cultural dislocation and the impact of political upheaval on quotidian lives in an engrossing and vivid novel. To order