La casa de los espíritus

At the heart of the story are Clara del Valle and Esteban Trueba. She is clairvoyant, eccentric, and capable of communicating with spirits. He is an authoritarian landowner whose ambition and temperament will leave an indelible mark on everyone around him. Children and grandchildren grow up in their orbit; romances blossom that defy social barriers, and the choices made by one generation inflict wounds that the next must confront. As the great house on the corner fills with notebooks, secrets, and supernatural presences, the outside world is also undergoing a transformation. Social inequalities, the struggle for power, and political violence eventually breach the family’s walls—inextricably intertwining the private history of the Truebas with the collective history of their nation.