DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE

In this extraordinarily vivid, earthy, picaresque historical romance, a bold Chilean senorita, pregnant by her young lover, follows him to San Francisco during the Gold Rush. Allende is a modern, female Cervantes, and this epic is alternately ironic, surprising, and touching, while always poetic. Blair Brown does a workmanlike job, but her flat, heavy tones do not sing as one needs to sing in order to do justice to this masterpiece. Y.R. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 01]