Isabel Allende

Eva Luna

Isabel Allende was born in 1942 into the cauldron of Latin American politics. Her father was the ambassador to Peru and first cousin to Chile’s president, Salvador Allende. When she was three, her father disappeared and the family took refuge in Santiago, Chile. She began telling stories to calm the fears of her two younger brothers.

From Eva Luna:

“She treated me with kindness, even a certain tenderness. She worried that I did not eat enough; she bought me a good bed; and every afternoon she invited me into the living room to listen to the serials on the radio…”

At twenty, she married Miguel Frias, a former classmate. Decades later, after their divorce, she likened being his wife to serving “as his geisha.” While raising their two children, Allende translated Barbara Cartland’s romance novels into English, until her habit of altering retrograde dialogue and demeaning characterizations of women got her fired. Later, as a TV journalist, she interviewed the poet Pablo Neruda, who told Allende her imaginative gifts would find full expression only in novel writing.

In 1973, during a military coup, the Allendes escaped to Venezuela. She continued working as a journalist for almost a decade, until her first success, The House of the Spirits, became a bestseller. This sealed her association with magic realism, a style that combines fantastic, dreamlike elements with realistic fiction.

Allende is now an American citizen. She lives in San Rafael, California, with her long-time partner, attorney Willie Gordon.

Allende holds to a practice unique among writers; she always begins a new novel on January 8, a tradition that stems from a letter she wrote to her dying grandfather that day in 1981.

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Madrina’s Banana Rum Cocktail

Madrina is Spanish for “godmother.” In this novel, the protagonist, Eva Luna’s madrina, who assumed care of the nine-year-old Eva after her mother died, was a faithful Catholic and a lover of rum.

1/8 cup low-fat milk

1 tbsp. light rum

1 tbsp. white crème de cacao

1 tbsp. crème de banana (or other banana liqueur)

1/2 banana

Wedge of pineapple

Maraschino cherry

Place all ingredients except the fruit in a shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into a chilled glass and garnish with fruit. Serves 1.