Talks & Entertainment

This program does not include a book signing. All books will be pre-signed by the author.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The House of the Spirits comes A Long Petal of the Sea, an epic novel spanning decades and crossing continents as it follows two young people fleeing the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in search of a place to call home.

In the late 1930s, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires.

With other refugees, they embark on a ship to Chile chartered by the poet Pablo Neruda, and embrace exile as the rest of Europe erupts in world war. Starting over on a new continent, their trials are just beginning, but over the course of their lives they will also find joy as they await the day when they will be exiles no more. Through it all, their hope of returning to Spain keeps them going, and the couple finds that home might have been closer than they thought all along.

A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the PEN Center Lifetime Achievement Award, Allende is one of the most widely read authors in the world with over 74 million copies of her 23 books sold. In conversation with David Epstein, a former reporter for ProPublica and Sports Illustrated and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World.