Powerfully evocative. . . . Allende is at her best here; spinning words like spells, enthralling the reader with surreal visions of the New World. Newsweek

A passionate epic of love, freedom, and conquest, based on historical events, from the New York Times bestselling author of The House of the Spirits and A Long Petal of the Sea.

Though she was born into poverty, Ins Surez, a seamstress in sixteenth-century Spain, embodies the same restless hope and opportunism that fuels her nations conquest of the Americas.

Learning that her shiftless husband has vanished, Ins uses his disappearance to embark on her own adventure. It is a journey that will lead her to Pedro de Valdiviaa conquistador who becomes the first royal governor of Chileand to a love that not only changes her life but the course of history.