Portrait in Sepia

"Portrait in Sepia" ("Retrato en Sepia", in Spanish) is a 2000 novel by Isabel Allende.

Plot summary

It is the second part in the stories of the Sommers family. Continuing with the granddaughter of Eliza Sommers ("Hija de la fortuna"), the protagonist is Aurora del Valle. The bastardized daughter of Lynn Sommers (the daughter of Eliza and Tao Chi'en) and Matias Rodriguez de Santa Cruz(son of Paulina del Valle and Feliciano Rodriguez de Santa Cruz) has no memory of her first 5 years of life. She has reoccurring nightmares of men in black pyjamas looming around her, and losing the grip on the hand of someone beloved.

Her mother died while bearing Aurora (Chinese name Lai Ming) in Chinatown, San Francisco. Her biological father never acknowledged he had made a bastard child until the end of his life, as he died a slow and agonizing death of syphillis. After the death of Lynn, Aurora's maternal grandparents raise her until the death of Tao Chi'en. After such events, Eliza approaches Paulina to raise Aurora while Eliza goes to China to bury Tao's body. Paulina makes Eliza agree to cut all contact with Aurora so that she will not get too attached to the girl and have her taken away later on in life.

The novel is divided into 3 parts and an epilogue. The first part describes Aurora's family members, and the second is where Aurora's life comes more into play. Paulina moves her family (Aurora, her butler Frederick Williams that marries her after Feliciano dies, and the various servants) down to Chile where the rest of her family lives. The third part is where Aurora grows up the most, becoming a photographer, marrying Diego Dominguez and eventually leaving him. She takes a lover, Dr. Ivan Radovic, and their relationship is explained more fully in the epilogue.

Characters

Major themes