What is Secret: Short Stories by Chilean Women, Vol. 9 »

Aristocratic Chile is vividly evoked in Isabel Allende s lyrical novels, in which a family s past and future is linked inextricably with that of its country s. A writer whose dreamy, imagistic books transport the reader to another time and place, Allende is considered by many to be the heir to Gabriel García Márquez s lavish magic realism.

The only work of its kind in English or Spanish

Publishers Weekly

"Is, in fact, writing a subversive impulse for women, as opposed to what men rather vaingloriously define as craftsmanship?" This question is posed by the narrator of a Luca Guerra story addressing an Argentine writer, but it reverberates throughout this outstanding collection. To compile what is touted as the first-ever collection of Chilean women's writing, Agosn searched "the great books of literary history" but, she says, "the panorama was desolate, so I perused marginal journals and old fashion magazines. It was there...that I heard the voices of these long-lost women." Given the number of translators, there is an incredible smoothness of tone here. And, perhaps reflecting their sources, female concerns are central. Ana Vsquez's secretary gets invited to an artsy gathering and worries over what to wear and how to act. In a wonderful run-on monologue, Marta Blanco's newly pregnant woman runs the gamut of emotions. Agata Gligo's mother must explain to the police how, although she only has two children, seven bicycles have been stolen from them. Given Agosn's emphasis on each story's reflection of "the woman who wrote it and of her historical situation." it is really too bad that the stories aren't dated. Still, this is an important work and it is also a great read. (Mar.)