Summary

Isabel Allende structures Violeta as a long letter from the titular narrator to a person named Camilo. Violeta Del Valle is born in the capital of an unnamed South American country in 1920. Her mother, María Gracia, has already borne five sons (with the oldest being a seventeen-year-old named José Antonio). Violeta’s father, Arsenio, is a successful businessman. The influenza pandemic soon arrives in their country, causing widespread death and poverty. The Del Valles, a well-off family, weather the pandemic in the “closed universe of [their] home” (15). Their property, Camellia House, is large but decadent.

Violeta lives at Camellia House with her immediate family as well as her aunts, Pilar and Pía. Pilar is strong and athletic while Pía is sweet and tender. A “gigantic adolescent” (19) named Torito also lives and works with the family. Violeta is deeply “spoiled” (21) and...