A Long Petal of the Sea : Why I love historical fiction

 “One of the most richly imagined portrayals of the Spanish Civil War to date, and one of the strongest and most affecting works in [Isabel Allende’s] long career.”—The New York Times Book Review

I'm a big fan of historical fiction. It's my favorite genre. A Long Petal of the Sea has all the elements I love in historical fiction: a good story, well told, set in a historical time and place, with both historical and fictional characters with whom I would love to sit down and have a cup of tea!

A Long Petal of the Sea covers the mid-1930s in Spain, to the 40s-90s in Chile (with brief stops in Spain, the U.S., and Venezuela). If you had asked me anything about the Spanish Civil War before I read this book, I would have a blank look on my face. Whether I ever learned about it (doubtful) or have just forgotten (possible) I could not have related any details whatsoever. Having lived through Allende's fictional retelling, I can now almost picture the war between the Catalonians and the Fascists - with Franco defeating the indefatigable Republican Spaniards. If I want the facts of the Spanish Civil War, I can read a book, or an essay (or Wikipedia!). I will learn about the two sides, the Republicans versus and Nationalists, with "communists" against "Christians" the rallying cry. But if I want to get a sense of history, and engage my senses, I read historical fiction. Through Allende's masterful writing I can smell the fires, feel the fear, cringe at the deprivation and cruelty, and see the destroyed city of Barcelona. 

The book is also a paean to Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet and diplomat. Neruda transported over 2,000 Spanish refugees living in sub-human conditions in concentration camps in France, having fled at the end of the Spanish Civil War, in a ship called the Winnipeg to their new home in Chile. The title comes from Neruda's poetic description of the country of Chile.

For more on this fascinating moment in history, read this: 

https://socialistaction.org/2019/09/25/the-ss-winnipeg-pablo-neruda-and-a-long-petal-of-the-sea/

It strikes me that this book is particularly apt in our present day when fascism and nationalism are on the rise in many countries, and the lines that so starkly divide us get wider every day, becoming more like chasms than lines. 

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (George Santayana, Spanish-American philosopher, poet, and novelist).