Isabel Allende - Latin America- Romance And Reality - 03/03/94

Isabel Allende is one of Latin America's most celebrated writers and the author of three international bestsellers, The House of Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, and Eva Luna. Born in Lima, Peru, and raised in Chile, she is the niece and goddaughter of Salvador Allende who was the president of Chile until a bloody coup in 1973 took his life. Forced to flee her homeland, Ms. Allende resettled in Venezuela with her family. In 1981, she learned that her beloved grandfather in Chile was dying, and she began a long letter to him, reassuring him that he would always remain in her memories. The letter, which was never sent, grew to become her first novel, The House of Spirits, the saga of three generations of the Trueba family in Chile.