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Historical person
1908–1973
Salvador Allende was the elected socialist president of Chile from 1970 until the military coup of 11 September 1973.
A physician and long-serving politician, Allende led the Popular Unity coalition and pursued nationalisation, land reform and expanded social provision. His government faced severe political polarisation, economic disruption, opposition from domestic groups and covert intervention from the United States. He died in La Moneda Palace during the coup.
A Long Petal of the Sea places its refugee family within the political hopes and rupture associated with Allende’s presidency. The House of the Spirits uses a fictionalised candidate and president recognisably shaped by Allende and the events of 1970–1973.
Historical context
Series
The House of the Spirits Trilogy forms a connected Chilean family saga across more than a century. Daughter of Fortune begins in nineteenth-century Valparaíso and the California Gold Rush; Portrait in Sepia follows the next generation through war, migration and memory; The House of the Spirits carries related…
All books in this series
Standalone books
