- clairvoyantadjectiveChapter 3 →
Having the supposed ability to perceive future or hidden events through a kind of sixth sense, beyond what normal sight or reason can explain.
- irreversibleadjectiveChapter 1 →
Impossible to undo or change back; once it has happened, there is no returning to how things were before.
“Clara saw death for the first time and understood that it was irreversible, that beauty offered no immunity, and that sorrow had no end.”
- immunitynounChapter 1 →
Protection from something harmful or unpleasant; here, the idea that being beautiful might shield a person from death or suffering.
“she understood that it was irreversible, that beauty offered no immunity, and that sorrow had no end.”
- preamblenounChapter 2 →
Introductory words or actions that come before the main event; without preamble means acting immediately, skipping any polite lead-up.
“He took the peasant women without much preamble, and local custom held that the patron had the right to these things.”
- patronnounChapter 2 →
The master or landowner of an estate, who holds authority over the workers and peasants living on his land.
“local custom held that the patron had the right to these things.”
- haciendanounChapter 2 →
A large rural estate or plantation in a Latin American country, typically including farmland and the homes of the owner and workers.
- coherentadjectiveChapter 3 →
Logically clear and easy to understand; words or speech that make sense and hold together as a meaningful whole.
“She had not spoken for nine years, and the words came out a little rusty, but perfectly coherent.”
- improbableadjectiveChapter 4 →
Unlikely to be true or to happen; here referring to supernatural or fantastical things that most people would not believe in.
- docileadjectiveChapter 4 →
Quietly obedient and easy to manage on the surface, without showing resistance or strong will.
“from behind her gentle smile and her docile manner, she would always be beyond his reach.”
- machetenounChapter 5 →
A large, heavy knife with a broad blade, commonly used in Latin America for cutting crops or clearing vegetation, and sometimes as a weapon.
“He cut off three of his fingers with a single stroke of the machete, and that was how Pedro Tercero García lost them in the service of a song.”
- yieldingadjectiveChapter 6 →
Soft and easily shaped or molded when pressure is applied; here describing clay that gives way smoothly under the hands.
“The clay was cool and yielding, and Blanca worked it with her hands as if she could shape the world into something her father would never recognise.”
- fraudnounChapter 8 →
A person who deliberately deceives others by pretending to be something they are not, in order to gain money, status, or trust.
“from the first moment she sensed that the Count was a fraud.”
- sniffing outphraseChapter 8 →
Detecting or discovering something hidden or dishonest through sharp instinct, the way a dog uses its nose to track a scent.
“Blanca had inherited her mother's instinct for sniffing out the hidden nature of things”
- atrocitiesnounChapter 14 →
Extremely cruel and violent acts, especially those carried out against many people, often by those in power during war or political repression.
“I want to bear witness, to make sure that these atrocities are never forgotten, and that the people who suffered them are not forgotten either.”
- bear witnessphraseChapter 14 →
To observe and then testify or record what happened, so that events—especially terrible ones—are not denied or forgotten.
“I want to bear witness, to make sure that these atrocities are never forgotten”
- sowed the windphraseChapter 13 →
An idiom meaning someone has done reckless or harmful things that will inevitably produce far worse consequences in return, like a storm following a breeze.
“You sowed the wind, and now we are reaping the whirlwind.”
- reaping the whirlwindphraseChapter 13 →
Suffering severe and destructive consequences as a direct result of one's own earlier reckless or harmful actions.
“You sowed the wind, and now we are reaping the whirlwind.”
- erasedverbChapter 11 →
Wiped out or destroyed completely, so that no trace or memory remains; here used for the deliberate suppression of historical truth.
“We have to write things down so they can't be erased by those who come after us.”
- agonynounChapter 9 →
Extreme physical or emotional suffering; here specifically the violent struggle and pain that can accompany the moment of dying.
“Clara died without pain, without agony, and without fear; she simply stopped breathing.”
- murmurnounChapter 10 →
A soft, low, continuous sound that is hard to make out clearly; here used to suggest the barely audible presence of ghosts moving through the house.
“The big house on the corner began to fill with the murmur of ghosts and the silence of those who were still alive.”
- civiliansnounChapter 12 →
Ordinary citizens who are not members of the military or armed forces, especially in contrast to soldiers or generals who hold power after a coup.
“the generals had no intention of returning power to the civilians.”
- coupnounChapter 12 →
A sudden, often violent seizure of government power by a military or political group, overthrowing the existing leadership.
- reactionaryadjectiveChapter 12 →
Strongly opposed to social or political change and wanting to return to older, more conservative ways of organizing society.
- patriarchnounChapter 4 →
The male head and dominant authority figure of a family or community, whose word is treated as law by those beneath him.
- illegitimateadjectiveChapter 7 →
Born to parents who were not married to each other; used here to describe children Esteban fathered outside his marriage, who had no legal claim to his name or inheritance.
The House of the SpiritsNovel by Isabel Allende