Synopses & Reviews
A child of two worlds the son of an aristocratic Spanish military man turned landowner and a Shoshone warrior woman young Diego de la Vega cannot silently bear the brutal injustices visited upon the helpless in late-eighteenth-century California. And so a great hero is born skilled in athleticism and dazzling swordplay, his persona formed between the Old World and the New the legend known as Zorro.
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"Allende's mesmerizing narrative voice never loses timbre or flags in either tension or entertainment value. To describe her as a clever novelist is to signify that she is both inventive and intelligent." Booklist (Starred Review)
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"Allende's tale risks but resists descending into melodrama at every turn. The up-to-date, even postmodern ending makes for a nice touch, too, and will gladden the heart of anyone ready in his or her heart to carve a few Zs into the bad guys." Kirkus Reviews
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"Allende is a beguiling storyteller, and Zorro provides a rich palate for her customary embellishments." Library Journal
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"This is a full-blooded retelling of the old masked-man legend, and it crackles with action." Fort Worth Star-Telegram
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"Zorro is a light and ripe adventure yarn, a female-friendly variation on an already famous figure of boy-driven pop culture. (Grade: B+)" Entertainment Weekly
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"One of those rare and perfect matches of subject and author....A picaresque novel with postmodern flourishes...the sinfully entertaining Zorro is serious fiction masked as a swashbuckler." Chicago Sun-Times
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"Rippling with humor and energized with a storyline so robust that it swings from the chandeliers, Zorro is great fun....[A] big, sprawling story, superbly told. Allende...succeeds in breathing new life into this decades-old character..." Miami Herald
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"While reading Zorro...you are sure that you are enjoying the story of the best kind of hero....So you turn the pages, cheering on the masked man. You love him. You want him. But then Allende nudges you, and you aren't quite so sure." Los Angeles Times
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"It is not possible to sum up the surprises, rescues from prisons, flirtations...but the book has plenty of what Hollywood would call non-stop action, and this is told with a pleasure so keen on the author's part that it's difficult not to be swept up in it." Craig Nova, The Washington Post Book World
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"Equal parts adventure, historical novel and family saga, Zorro is a moving portrait of a hero who is heartbreakingly human." People
About the Author
Born in Peru, Isabel Allende was raised in Chile. She is the author of seven novels, a collection of stories, three memoirs most recently, My Invented Country and a trilogy of children's novels. Allende lives in California.