Of Love and Shadows (1987) is a novel by Isabel Allende. It is a love story about a journalist, Irene Beltrán, and a photographer, Francisco Leal, who live in a country ruled by a military dictatorship.

Irene is the fiancée of a captain in the army, Gustavo Morante. Francisco is the son of a Marxist professor.

Irene and Francisco travel on a magazine-assignment to a farm in Los Riscos to do a story about an extraordinary girl, named Evangelina Ranquileo, who is rumored to have strange psychic powers. Evangelina has convulsive attacks that occur at noon each day. During her attacks, the utensils dance in the cupboard, and a clatter is heard on the roof like a hailstorm.

The rumor has spread that Evangelina has strange psychic powers, and farm people are coming to the home of the Ranquileo family, requesting her to heal them of their afflictions, and asking her to perform miracles.

On the day that Irene and Francisco arrive, an army troop led by Lieutenant Juan de Dios Ramirez comes to the home of the Ranquileo family. Evangelina’s brother, Pradelio, is a soldier in the troop, and has told Lieutenant Ramirez about Evangelina's strange illness.

Lieutenant Ramirez has decided to try to frighten the girl out of her attacks, and at his signal the troop lets loose a hail of gunfire in the direction of the house. But when Lieutenant Ramirez enters the house and approaches Evangelina’s bed, she has a convulsive seizure, and attacks him, striking him in the face, lifting him up and shaking him like a mop, hauling him out of the house, and hurling him onto the floor of the patio. The troop of soldiers is too surprised to respond, and Lieutenant Ramirez orders them to depart.

That night, Lieutenant Ramirez secretly returns, and lines up the Ranquileo family at gunpoint. He arrests Evangelina, to repay the humilation that he has suffered, and he drags her away in his jeep. Evangelina never returns. Irene and Francisco help her mother, Digna Ranquileo, search for her.

Irene and Francisco go to the morgue to look for Evangelina’s body, but they do not find her body among the many cadavers of people who have been beaten or tortured to death. Irene begins to lose her own innocence, as she perceives the brutal and repressive nature of the military dictatorship. Irene and Francisco fall in love, and Irene decides that she will not marry Gustavo Morante.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Faustino Rivera, who is a friend of the Ranquileo family, reveals to Digna Ranquileo that Evangelina has been murdered by Lieutenant Ramirez. The night that Ramirez had brought her to headquarters, Rivera had seen Ramirez load Evangelina’s body into the back of a truck, and then put a pick and shovel into the back of the truck, and drive away on the highway.

Lieutenant Ramirez had also punished Evangelina’s brother, Pradelio, by sentencing him to solitary confinement in prison. Sergeant Rivera had managed to release Pradelio, and to help him to escape to the mountains.

Digna Ranquileo comes to Irene to ask for help in getting Pradelio out of the country. Pradelio’s younger brother, Jacinto, leads Irene and Francisco to the cave where Pradelio is hiding in the mountains. Pradelio tells them that, if Evangelina is dead, Lieutenant Ramirez has buried her body in an abandoned mine in Los Riscos.

Irene and Francisco go to the abandoned mine, and unearth Evangelina’s body. Francisco takes several photographs to document the scene.

Later, Irene and Francisco return to the mine and unearth more victims, the bodies of people who have been abducted and murdered by the police at the command of Lieutenant Ramirez. Francisco takes more photographs to document the discovery of the victims.

Francisco delivers the photographs to his brother José, who is a Catholic priest. José gives the photographs to the Cardinal, since the Catholic Church is the only institution which has not been crushed by the military government. The Cardinal forms a commission, composed of journalists, attorneys, and international organizations. The commission is able to give orders to open the mine, and to gather the remains of the victims. The Cardinal also sends a letter to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, asking for an investigation.

Irene meets with Sergeant Rivera, who tells her that Lieutenant Ramirez abducted and murdered Evangelina. But immediately afterward, Rivera is killed, when a truck runs him over and speeds away.

Thirty hours later, Irene is shot down by gunfire from a car that drives away in traffic. She receives several bullet wounds to the abdomen, and is taken to the hospital. She undergoes surgery, and slowly recovers. Francisco stays at her bedside. The hospital is being watched by the military police, who plan to make another attempt to kill her.

Lieutenant Ramirez is found guilty of murder by a military court, but is set free on a decree of amnesty by the General of the military government.

Irene’s former fiancé, Gustavo Morante, is now disillusioned with the corruption and brutality of the government, and plots to overthrow the General. But Gustavo’s plans are discovered by the Intelligence Service, and he is arrested and executed.

Francisco helps Irene escape from the hospital. With the help of their friends, they travel to the frontier, and as the novel ends, they leave the country.

A theme of the novel is the contrast between the innocence of love and the shadows of violence and brutality. The novel explores the contrast between, on one hand, the gentleness and beauty of love, and on the other, the darkness and cruelty of everyday reality.

The novel is a love story about a journalist and a photographer who make a frightening discovery, and the story is set against the background of terror in a military dictatorship.

Irene Beltrán is at first innocent, and has a sense of unguarded optimism, but as she learns about the violent nature of the military dictatorship, she recognizes the existence of misery, injustice, and repression. Francisco Leal is aware of the world of harshness and misery, but as he falls in love with Irene, he finds that their love transcends the world of everyday reality.

The turning point of the novel is the discovery of the body of Evangelina in the shadows of the mine at Los Riscos. This marks the change in Irene’s point of view, and in the way she sees the world. She starts to recognize the existence of political evil and corruption.

Irene’s love for Francisco also unleaches the forces of loyalty in her heart. She is loyal to her sense of truth, in seeking to expose the existence of violence and corruption, and she is loyal to her sense of compassion, in seeking to help the oppressed and the powerless.