The daughter of a diplomat and cousin of former Chilean President Salvador Allende, Isabel Allende was born on August 2, 1942, in Lima, Peru. At age three, she moved with her mother and siblings to Chile. Since then, she has lived in countless places across the globe, each of which inspired her to write successful novels. Isabel is considered the most widely read living Spanish-language author, with her works selling more than 80 million copies and translated into 40-plus languages. In 2014, she received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom. We’ve selected some of her most emblematic works.
The separation of families as a consequence of social injustice is a subject that has long been a source of concern and passion for Isabel. That is why she decided to dedicate this book to talk about it. In The Wind Knows My Name, Isabel interweaves two stories that take place in different places and times, but which are deeply united by the uprooting, compassion and sacrifices that many parents make in order to offer a better life to their children. Completed in August of 2022, this title is destined to become one of the most important in Isabel's bibliography.
###Isabel Allende
As a child, Isabel Allende heard an inspiring story about Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who in 1939 chartered a ship to take more than 2,000 Spanish refugees to Valparaiso. When she joined the United Nations, she heard the story again and immediately decided that one day she would tell it in book form. What followed were years of intense research into the backstory. The result is this novel, whose title comes from a Neruda poem that begins with, “Oh, Chile, long petal of sea and wine and snow.” The main characters, the young doctor Victor Dalmau and pianist Roser Bruguera, are two good friends who get married in order to escape to Valparaiso—and years later, end up falling in love.
Inés Suárez was a Spanish woman who played a decisive role in the conquest of Chile and the founding of its capital, Santiago. She arrived in America in 1537 to find her husband, who had left 10 years earlier. Although Suárez did not find him, she instead met Pedro de Valdivia, who led the conquest of the South American country, and joined his expedition. Isabel Allende decided to tell Suárez’s life story in this novel of love and war. In 2020, Ines of My Soul was adapted into a television series produced by Amazon Prime, Globomedia, and Televisión Española, with Elena Rivera and Eduardo Noriega heading the cast.
Francisca Panchita Llona, Isabel Allende’s mother, lived to the age of 99. Her death left Isabel in such enormous pain that for some time, she could not bear to write about her. However, after a few years had passed, she became inspired to write a novel based on her mother’s life. The result is Violeta, the story of a woman who lives through an entire century, which includes surviving two pandemics. Set in a fictional Latin American country whose name is never mentioned, Violeta deals with epic themes, from the struggle for women’s rights to the power of dictatorships and their downfalls. The author’s two great obsessions, love and death, are also present.
At the beginning of the 21st century, Isabel Allende decided to write for the first time for a young audience. Thus was born City of the Beasts, the first installment of a trilogy called Memoirs of the Eagle and the Jaguar. The plot follows Alexander, a young Californian who travels with his grandmother to the Amazon jungle in search of a strange beast rumored to live there. Mixing elements of magical realism and shamanic culture, Allende shapes an adventure in which spirits and living beings always coexist. Narrated by fellow writer Camila Valenzuela, this audiobook is the gateway to an adventure like no other. Kingdom of the Golden Dragon and Forest of the Pygmies complete the trilogy.
In December 1991, Isabel Allende’s eldest daughter Paula fell into a coma due to complications from porphyria. She was only 28 years old. While sitting beside Paula’s hospital bed, Isabel began to write, in the form of a letter, the story of her family, and herself, for her unconscious child. Sadly, Paula never awoke from the coma; she died one year later. After mourning, Isabel decided to share the story of her colorful ancestors, her childhood, and her path to becoming a writer and Paula’s mother with the world. A memoir infused with spirituality and magic, Paula is a moving book that takes the audience from tears to laughter. Narrated by Javiera Gazitúa and the author herself, this audiobook is one of Allende’s most personal works.
Isabel Allende’s first novel, and perhaps the one that has brought her the most fame, is The House of the Spirits. In it, she tells the story of the Trueba family, a family of landowners, from the beginning of the 20th century until the 1970s. Heir to the tradition of García Márquez, the novel is considered one of the best of magical realism. An immediate bestseller, it has been translated into several languages and was made into a film with a cast that includes Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas, Glenn Close, and Winona Ryder. Isabel herself reads the preface in this audiobook version, while Javiera Gazitúa and Senén Arancibia handle the rest of the narration.
The second novel among Isabel Allende books was also a literary success. In Of Love and Shadows, she tells the love story of Irene and Francisco, which takes place during the dark years of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. Isabel was exiled herself because of the disastrous regime, and she wrote the novel in Venezuela. In 1994, it was made into a film by US director Betty Kaplan, with Antonio Banderas and Jennifer Connelly heading the cast. Chilean actress María Ignacia Hojas lends her voice to this audiobook version. This novel is indispensable in understanding the political situation in Chile during the dark period when Pinochet ruled the country.
A historical novel set in Chile in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Portrait in Sepia closes Isabel Allende’s unofficial trilogy (the predecessor titles are The House of the Spirits and* Daughter of Fortune*). Here, Isabel focuses on Aurora del Valle, who becomes obsessed with discovering her origins, which her family has erased. Romance, rawness, and a great sense of humor adorn this story, which takes place between Chile, the United States, and Europe. The novel is told in the first person, and Javiera Gazitúa once again lends her voice to give us an extraordinary audiobook.
Isabel Allende identified with feminism since she was a child, and, as a mature woman, she wrote a book on the subject: Soul of a Woman. In this work of memoir and activism, the author reflects on what it means to be a woman and to be a writer. She also talks about the women who have marked her life, such as her mother, her own daughter, and writers Virginia Woolf and Margaret Atwood. She even takes the time to dedicate a few words to the #MeToo movement, which she has always supported. Also narrated by Javiera Gazitúa, this audiobook allows us to know what one of the iconic women of Latin American literature of the last 50 years thinks.
Isabel Allende studied the culture and challenges of Japanese immigrants who settled in the US after World War II to give life to the characters in this novel. In it, she tells the story of the romance between Alma, who leaves her native Danzig because of the war, and Ichimei, the son of a Japanese gardener who left his country to avoid military service. We reach them through Seth, Alma and Irina’s grandson, who works in the retirement home where she lives. In this work, which won the Golden Book Award in Uruguay, Isabel reflects on love, passion, the passing of time, and loss.
Isabel Allende begins writing each of her books on January 8, and The Island Beneath the Sea is no exception. In this novel, she tells the story of Zarité, who was born into a life of slavery on a plantation in Saint-Domingue, a French colony established in the territory now comprising Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Spanning 40 years, the novel follows Zarité’s journey toward independence and love, despite suffering along the way. Isabel exposes the ruthless conditions in which 18th-century slaves lived and their struggle for freedom. The voice of this audiobook version belongs to Dominican actress Jane Santos.
The prequel to Portrait in Sepia, Daughter of Fortune is one of Isabel Allende’s most ambitious novels. In it, she tells the story of Eliza Sommers, from her childhood in Valparaiso to her adventures during the California Gold Rush. Abandoned at birth on the Sommers’s doorstep, Eliza undergoes a radical transformation throughout the book. With the touch of humor she always brings to her works, Isabel gives Daughter of Fortune a story sprinkled with feminism and determination. Narrated by one of Isabel’s peers, writer Camila Valenzuela, this audiobook deserves a place in the audio library of all fans of the Chilean author.
Considered one of the best Latin American novels of recent years, Eva Luna tells the story of a woman who fights for her dreams despite facing irreparable losses and tragedies. The eponymous protagonist is a sort of alter ego of the author, as she is a talented and imaginative storyteller as well as a revolutionary fighter. Written in the first person, it is also a portrait of Latin America, with its guerrillas, its encounters and misunderstandings, and its poor-poor and rich-rich. Narrated in audiobook form by Colombian actress Juanita Devis, this is a must-have title in Isabel Allende’s bibliography.
In the Midst of Winter follows the intertwined lives of three people brought together during the midst of a record-breaking snowstorm in Brooklyn, New York. Lucia is a young Chilean woman who is abruptly forced to leave her country after being accused of guerrilla sympathies. Evelyn is a young Guatemalan woman who arrives in the United States, after a treacherous and harrowing journey, without documents. And Richard, an American, is a lonely, aging university professor with a tragic personal history that fills him with remorse. At first, these three characters have nothing in common—except for their link to a corpse in a car. From this unsettling circumstance, their lives come together to offer a story about injustice, survival, unexpected love, and hope.
Fifteen years after her eldest daughter Paula’s death, Isabel Allende decided to write a second book for her. In it, she tells Paula what has happened to her since she left. This is how the Chilean writer takes us into her life in the US—on the outskirts of San Francisco, where she lives with her “peculiar tribe.” Some of her stories include her adventures with her mother, Panchita; her love (and heartbreak) with ex-husband Willie; and her tireless search for a girlfriend for her son Nicolás. The acclaimed author narrates each tale within this beautiful love letter with intimacy and great humor.
