Daughter of Fortune
Encyclopedia
Daughter of Fortune is a novel by Isabel Allende
, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club
selection in February 2000. Isabel Allende says "of her female protagonist in Daughter of Fortune, Eliza, that she might well represent who the author might have been in another life." "Allende spent seven years of research on this, her fifth novel, which she says is a story of a young woman's search for self-knowledge." "Allende also believes that the novel reflects her own struggle to define the role of feminism in her life." Allende also wrote a sequel to Daughter of Fortune entitled Portrait in Sepia
which follows Eliza Sommers' grand-daughter.
an girl raised and educated by English
Anglican
siblings Victorian spinster Rose and strict Jeremy Sommers, and their sailor brother John Sommers, who are colonists living in the port of Valparaiso
, ever since they found her on their doorstep, and taught in the art of cooking by the Mapuche
Indian Mama Fresia. Over most of Part I, Eliza's origins and upbringing, and her maturity are told. Eliza falls in love with Joaquin Andieta, a young Chilean man who is concerned about his mother, living in poverty. The young couple have an affair, ultimately resulting in Eliza getting pregnant. Soon, news of gold
being discovered in California reaches Chile, and Joaquin goes out to California in search of a fortune. Wanting to follow her lover, Eliza goes to California, with the help of her Chinese
zhong yi (physician) friend, Tao Chi'en, in the bowels of a ship headed by a Dutch
Lutheran captain, Vincent Katz.
In the beginning of Part II, Tao's past is revealed, from his early life in poverty, to his apprenticeship to a master acupuncturist, and his ill-fated marriage to Lin, a young and pretty, but frail girl who dies after a brief marriage. Lin's spirit later comes in to help her widowed husband at crucial points for Tao in later parts of the book. During the journey to California, Eliza, due to her pregnancy, is frail and sick, and later suffers a miscarriage. To leave with ship without suspicion, Tao disguises Eliza as a Chinese boy, a disguise that she maintains in San Francisco where they have landed. Eliza earns money by selling some Chilean snacks and Tao becomes a successful zhong yi. Tao, after seeing the greed and brothels in San Francisco, loses most of his faith in America. Eliza sets on her journey to find Joaquin, using a male cowboy's disguise and the moniker Elias Andieta, and claiming to be Joaquin's brother. Meanwhile in Valparaiso, Rose and Jeremy are shocked to find that Eliza has disappeared. When John comes and asks about her whereabouts, Rose reveals a well-kept, shocking secret to Jeremy, a secret that she and John have concealed from him since Eliza's arrival into their home: John is Eliza's father, having had her with an unnamed Chilean woman. Based on intuition, John Sommers sails for San Francisco, commissioned by his wealthy employer Paulina Rodriguez de la Cruz as a steam ship captain, with the additional intent of finding his daughter.
Part III finds Eliza broke after still trying to search for Joaquin, she occasionly sends letters to Tao describing what she sees in her journey. Although she has fallen out of love with Joaquin, she cannot stop journeying. In an outskirt town, Eliza meets up with Joe Bonecrusher's travelling caraven of prostitutes and ends up travelling with them as cook and piano player. The members of the caravan believe Eliza to be a homosexual man, a disguise which she takes up much to the frustration of Babalu, the caravan's bodyguard. Eliza stays with the group during the winter as they settle in a small town. During this time, Tao moves to San Francisco to save up money to move back to China. He surprises himself when he realises he misses Eliza's company and is consoled when he begins receiving her letters. John Sommers, in his search for Eliza, comes across Jacob Todd, an old suitor of Rose's who is now a journalist known as Jacob Freemont.
Freemont promises that he will look out for any sign of Eliza as he writes articles about the famous bandit Joaquin Murieta, whose description matches Eliza's lover. Meanwhile, as Joe Bonecrusher's business begins to dwindle, Tao finds Eliza and returns to San Francisco with her. They set up a network to help young Chinese prostitutes escape and rehabilitate with the help of friends. Eventually Jacob Freemont is able to pass word to the Sommers that Eliza is alive, who was previously thought to be dead. Tao and Eliza live together and eventually form a relationship; she eventually decides to write to Rose to inform her foster mother that she is alive. When Joaquin Murieta is shot dead and his preserved head is showcased in San Francisco, Eliza and Tao go to see if the man was really Joaquin Andieta.
Rose Sommers: Incredibly beautiful, Rose Sommers never married after an affair at a young age with an opera singer ended. She has raised Eliza as her own; although she did not wish to marry, she wanted children. She is a charming and vivacious woman, and capricious towards raising Eliza, though she does love and care for her in the way she thinks is best.
Jeremy Sommers: Jeremy is the oldest of the Sommers. He is solid and stern, taking care to never show emotion. Jeremy and Rose live together under unspoken conditions where she takes care of the house and he provides necessities. Despite his stoic and stubborn nature, he will concede to Rose under enough duress.
John Sommers: John is a captain of a ship and later a steamboat carrying supplies to California. He is a free-spirit and the "loosest" of the Sommers, enjoying good drinks and women. He travels to many places and brings back gifts for Rose and Eliza, after she is born.
Mama Fresia: Mama Fresia is the cook for the Sommers. Nobody pays much attention to her except for Eliza who benefits from her cooking skills as well as superstitions. Eventually Mama Fresia helps Eliza run away and then disappears herself.
Tao Chi'en: Tao Chi'en is a shanghaied
zhong yi (physician) working as a cook on John Sommers ship. Tao Chi'en cares for Eliza when she is found hidden and suffering from a miscarriage
on the ship he is working on. Once he has been dismissed from the captain's duty, Eliza comes to him to ask for him to help her follow her lover Joaquin Andieta to California. The two remain friends for life.
Joaquin Andieta: Joaquin is a young man who works for Jeremy Sommers, though is not known to him by name. He spends time with Jacob Todd talking about philosophy and freedom. He is a loyal and hard worker, trying his best to bring his mother into a better life. Joaquin meets Eliza when delivering something to the Sommers' house. They meet multiple times to talk which leads to an affair. When Joaquin is struck by gold fever, he steals money and heads for California, but promises to return back to ask to marry Eliza and help his mother in moving her to a home, where she can recuperate.
Jacob Todd/Freemont: Jacob is brought to Chile by a bet that he couldn't sell a specific number of Bibles in 3 months. Once he arrives he is distracted by the resisting Rose Sommers and lives off of money the local church gives him for his "mission work". Once he is unveiled as a fraud, Jacob takes off with what's left of his reputation. He ends up in California working as a journalist, though no more honest, and becomes famous for his pieces, especially those on the elusive bandit Joaquin Murieta.
Paulina Rodriguez de la Cruz: The wife of a Chilean millionaire, Feliciano Rodriguez de la Cruz; because of Feliciano's lower status, her father Agustin de Valle was against their relationship and only through the discreet intervention of the couple's friend, Jacob Todd, were they able to marry and become wealthy. However, their continued success is due to Paulina's sharp business intuition, which her husband, though proud and headstrong, accepts as she has never been wrong. She becomes the owner of several steamships carrying fresh produce from Chile packed in glacial ice to California and employs John Sommers to captain the ship.
Joe Bonecrusher: The madam of travelling brothel, who employs Eliza as a piano player and cook for her group, who all believe that Eliza is an effeminate homosexual man. Joe is tough and fearless, able to inspire respect from her girls, their bodyguard Babalu the Bad, and Joe's ward, Tom No-Tribe, and eventually townfolk who disapprove of the brothel but are indebted to Joe because she has accepted and taken care of the sick.
Joaquin Murieta
: A legendary vigiliante whose infamy circulates throughout California. Eliza is never certain if he is Joaquin Andieta, but follows his deeds in her pursuit to find her lover.
Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende Llona is a Chilean writer with American citizenship. Allende, whose works sometimes contain aspects of the "magic realist" tradition, is famous for novels such as The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts , which have been commercially successful...
, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club
Oprah's Book Club
Oprah's Book Club was a book discussion club segment of the American talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey started the book club in 1996, selecting a new novel for viewers to read and discuss each month. The Club ended its 15-year run, along with...
selection in February 2000. Isabel Allende says "of her female protagonist in Daughter of Fortune, Eliza, that she might well represent who the author might have been in another life." "Allende spent seven years of research on this, her fifth novel, which she says is a story of a young woman's search for self-knowledge." "Allende also believes that the novel reflects her own struggle to define the role of feminism in her life." Allende also wrote a sequel to Daughter of Fortune entitled Portrait in Sepia
Portrait in Sepia
Portrait in Sepia is a 2000 novel by Isabel Allende. The novel can be thought of a sequel to Allende's Daughter of Fortune as it follows Eliza Sommers' grand-daughter - Aurora del Valle.-Plot summary:...
which follows Eliza Sommers' grand-daughter.
Plot summary
In Chile during the 1840s, Eliza Sommers is a young ChileChile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an girl raised and educated by English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
Anglican
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
siblings Victorian spinster Rose and strict Jeremy Sommers, and their sailor brother John Sommers, who are colonists living in the port of Valparaiso
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
, ever since they found her on their doorstep, and taught in the art of cooking by the Mapuche
Mapuche
The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
Indian Mama Fresia. Over most of Part I, Eliza's origins and upbringing, and her maturity are told. Eliza falls in love with Joaquin Andieta, a young Chilean man who is concerned about his mother, living in poverty. The young couple have an affair, ultimately resulting in Eliza getting pregnant. Soon, news of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
being discovered in California reaches Chile, and Joaquin goes out to California in search of a fortune. Wanting to follow her lover, Eliza goes to California, with the help of her Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
zhong yi (physician) friend, Tao Chi'en, in the bowels of a ship headed by a Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
Lutheran captain, Vincent Katz.
In the beginning of Part II, Tao's past is revealed, from his early life in poverty, to his apprenticeship to a master acupuncturist, and his ill-fated marriage to Lin, a young and pretty, but frail girl who dies after a brief marriage. Lin's spirit later comes in to help her widowed husband at crucial points for Tao in later parts of the book. During the journey to California, Eliza, due to her pregnancy, is frail and sick, and later suffers a miscarriage. To leave with ship without suspicion, Tao disguises Eliza as a Chinese boy, a disguise that she maintains in San Francisco where they have landed. Eliza earns money by selling some Chilean snacks and Tao becomes a successful zhong yi. Tao, after seeing the greed and brothels in San Francisco, loses most of his faith in America. Eliza sets on her journey to find Joaquin, using a male cowboy's disguise and the moniker Elias Andieta, and claiming to be Joaquin's brother. Meanwhile in Valparaiso, Rose and Jeremy are shocked to find that Eliza has disappeared. When John comes and asks about her whereabouts, Rose reveals a well-kept, shocking secret to Jeremy, a secret that she and John have concealed from him since Eliza's arrival into their home: John is Eliza's father, having had her with an unnamed Chilean woman. Based on intuition, John Sommers sails for San Francisco, commissioned by his wealthy employer Paulina Rodriguez de la Cruz as a steam ship captain, with the additional intent of finding his daughter.
Part III finds Eliza broke after still trying to search for Joaquin, she occasionly sends letters to Tao describing what she sees in her journey. Although she has fallen out of love with Joaquin, she cannot stop journeying. In an outskirt town, Eliza meets up with Joe Bonecrusher's travelling caraven of prostitutes and ends up travelling with them as cook and piano player. The members of the caravan believe Eliza to be a homosexual man, a disguise which she takes up much to the frustration of Babalu, the caravan's bodyguard. Eliza stays with the group during the winter as they settle in a small town. During this time, Tao moves to San Francisco to save up money to move back to China. He surprises himself when he realises he misses Eliza's company and is consoled when he begins receiving her letters. John Sommers, in his search for Eliza, comes across Jacob Todd, an old suitor of Rose's who is now a journalist known as Jacob Freemont.
Freemont promises that he will look out for any sign of Eliza as he writes articles about the famous bandit Joaquin Murieta, whose description matches Eliza's lover. Meanwhile, as Joe Bonecrusher's business begins to dwindle, Tao finds Eliza and returns to San Francisco with her. They set up a network to help young Chinese prostitutes escape and rehabilitate with the help of friends. Eventually Jacob Freemont is able to pass word to the Sommers that Eliza is alive, who was previously thought to be dead. Tao and Eliza live together and eventually form a relationship; she eventually decides to write to Rose to inform her foster mother that she is alive. When Joaquin Murieta is shot dead and his preserved head is showcased in San Francisco, Eliza and Tao go to see if the man was really Joaquin Andieta.
Main characters
Eliza Sommers: Eliza Sommers is a headstrong, half Chilean, half English girl abandoned at birth at the home of the Sommers. She is adopted and raised in part by Rose Sommers and also by Mama Fresia, the Sommers' servant and cook. She has an excellent sense of smell and a very detailed and accurate memory. She is the daughter of John Sommers, and only after she disappears to California do Rose and John tell Jeremy about this. Her mother is unknown, and believed to be a prostitute. She was recognized as John's daughter because of the blanket wrapped around her, which was the one he used to cover up the prostitute with months before.Rose Sommers: Incredibly beautiful, Rose Sommers never married after an affair at a young age with an opera singer ended. She has raised Eliza as her own; although she did not wish to marry, she wanted children. She is a charming and vivacious woman, and capricious towards raising Eliza, though she does love and care for her in the way she thinks is best.
Jeremy Sommers: Jeremy is the oldest of the Sommers. He is solid and stern, taking care to never show emotion. Jeremy and Rose live together under unspoken conditions where she takes care of the house and he provides necessities. Despite his stoic and stubborn nature, he will concede to Rose under enough duress.
John Sommers: John is a captain of a ship and later a steamboat carrying supplies to California. He is a free-spirit and the "loosest" of the Sommers, enjoying good drinks and women. He travels to many places and brings back gifts for Rose and Eliza, after she is born.
Mama Fresia: Mama Fresia is the cook for the Sommers. Nobody pays much attention to her except for Eliza who benefits from her cooking skills as well as superstitions. Eventually Mama Fresia helps Eliza run away and then disappears herself.
Tao Chi'en: Tao Chi'en is a shanghaied
Shanghaiing
Shanghaiing refers to the practice of conscripting men as sailors by coercive techniques such as trickery, intimidation, or violence. Those engaged in this form of kidnapping were known as crimps. Until 1915, unfree labor was widely used aboard American merchant ships...
zhong yi (physician) working as a cook on John Sommers ship. Tao Chi'en cares for Eliza when she is found hidden and suffering from a miscarriage
Miscarriage
Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
on the ship he is working on. Once he has been dismissed from the captain's duty, Eliza comes to him to ask for him to help her follow her lover Joaquin Andieta to California. The two remain friends for life.
Joaquin Andieta: Joaquin is a young man who works for Jeremy Sommers, though is not known to him by name. He spends time with Jacob Todd talking about philosophy and freedom. He is a loyal and hard worker, trying his best to bring his mother into a better life. Joaquin meets Eliza when delivering something to the Sommers' house. They meet multiple times to talk which leads to an affair. When Joaquin is struck by gold fever, he steals money and heads for California, but promises to return back to ask to marry Eliza and help his mother in moving her to a home, where she can recuperate.
Jacob Todd/Freemont: Jacob is brought to Chile by a bet that he couldn't sell a specific number of Bibles in 3 months. Once he arrives he is distracted by the resisting Rose Sommers and lives off of money the local church gives him for his "mission work". Once he is unveiled as a fraud, Jacob takes off with what's left of his reputation. He ends up in California working as a journalist, though no more honest, and becomes famous for his pieces, especially those on the elusive bandit Joaquin Murieta.
Paulina Rodriguez de la Cruz: The wife of a Chilean millionaire, Feliciano Rodriguez de la Cruz; because of Feliciano's lower status, her father Agustin de Valle was against their relationship and only through the discreet intervention of the couple's friend, Jacob Todd, were they able to marry and become wealthy. However, their continued success is due to Paulina's sharp business intuition, which her husband, though proud and headstrong, accepts as she has never been wrong. She becomes the owner of several steamships carrying fresh produce from Chile packed in glacial ice to California and employs John Sommers to captain the ship.
Joe Bonecrusher: The madam of travelling brothel, who employs Eliza as a piano player and cook for her group, who all believe that Eliza is an effeminate homosexual man. Joe is tough and fearless, able to inspire respect from her girls, their bodyguard Babalu the Bad, and Joe's ward, Tom No-Tribe, and eventually townfolk who disapprove of the brothel but are indebted to Joe because she has accepted and taken care of the sick.
Joaquin Murieta
Joaquin Murrieta
Joaquin Carrillo Murrieta , also called the Mexican or Chilean Robin Hood or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a semi-legendary figure in California during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s...
: A legendary vigiliante whose infamy circulates throughout California. Eliza is never certain if he is Joaquin Andieta, but follows his deeds in her pursuit to find her lover.
Themes & Issues
- Obsession (Love, Gold Fever)
- Freedom (that which she & Tao found vs. that unrealistic Utopia of young Joaquin Andieta).
- Love (True vs. "Fairy Tale" love)