Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende, narrator and protagonist, emerges as strong, imaginative, passionate, and loving but also impulsive, prone to mistakes, and, at times, guilt ridden. In the year of silence and sadness at her daughter's bedside, she struggles against Paula's death the best way a storyteller can—by capturing memories. Allende survives exile in Venezuela for the sake of her children; she survives her marriage by finding a creative outlet in a letter to her grandfather—which turns into her first novel. She uses writing again to cope with her daughter's coma and death. Allende comes through as a survivor in spirit and finds love with her second husband. Throughout the book, she demonstrates an energetic spirit as the main caregiver for her daughter during her illness and finds strength in her love for her daughter in the moment of Paula's death.

Juan Allende

Plagued with illness from the...