More Pictures

Isabel and her husband at home.




This image was taken in India in 1995 with her friend Tabra which she said was an extraordinary trip.








Here is a picture of Isabel's children Nicolas and Paula in 1969. Nicolas is three and Paula is six.

Videos

Here are a couple of interesting videos of Isabel Allende

ENJOY!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E11cDEr272Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMpb-czs23I

City of the Beasts

Isabel Allende wrote several novels but one of them that is her most popular one is City of the Beasts, which was published not too long ago in 2002. The novel was named to the San Francisco Chronicle Book Review and Book Magazine’s list of best science fiction novels of 2002. It was first written in Spanish because Isabel Allende is a Chilean-American and then later translated to English by a lady with the name of Margaret Sayers Peden. The story was set in the Amazon rainforest and it all begins with a story about a 15 year-old boy by the name of Alexander Cold. He and his family are going through a family crisis where as his mother has cancer so his parents leave for Texas to treat it, which is why him and his sisters are sent to live with their grandmothers. Alexander is sent off to stay with his grandmother Kate Cold who is a pipe smoking, vodka-drinking reporter for International Geographic Magazine. His sisters, however are sent to live with their grandmother Carla. Meanwhile Kate announces that when Alex arrives she will be taking him with her to the Amazon rainforest. When Alex and his grandmother reach to the jungle they join the rest of the expedition group: Timothy Bruce (photographer); and his assistant Joel Gonzalez. Accompanying them is the famous anthropologist, Ludovic Leblanc, the beautiful Venezuelan physician Dr. Omayra Torres, who is coming along to vaccinate natives, and Cesar Santos, their Brazilian guide. Alex soon befriends Nadia, a girl several years younger than him, who is the daughter of Cesar Santos. The entrepreneur, Mauro Carias, is the man responsible for drawing the magazine's interest to the mysterious Beasts. Outside of a small town in the middle of the Amazon named Santa Maria de la Lluvia, Alex is introduced to a friend of Nadia's, Walimai. After informing them that the two of them have been "called", he disappears without a trace. That night, the two children wake up to the sound of voices. They overhear Captain Aristo and Mauro Carias (the Entrepreneur) discussing a plan in which the expedition is used as a cover to hide what they're really doing: getting rid of the Indians so that they can prospect in the World's Eye. Upon visiting Carias's house the next day, the members of the expedition are shown a captive black jaguar. Alex is mesmerized by it and has a vision by which it is revealed that his totemic animal is a jaguar. Cesar Santos kills the jaguar so that it will not have to live in bondage. Nadia begins to call Alex Jaguar, because that is his "true name". The group then leaves by boat, traveling upriver toward their destination. On their adventure upriver several people are either attacked by animals such as anacondas or killed by poisoned darts. When they are left alone, Alex plays his grandfather's flute to relieve the tedium. The music attracts the mysterious People of the Mist, who kidnap the two children. They travel farther into the forest and arrive at a waterfall, which they must climb to reach the World's Eye. After they reach the top they set off for the home of the People of the Mist. When they reach the village, they are welcomed by the Indians - but their happiness is tempered by the death of Mokarita, which follows shortly after. He is given a traditional funeral, which unfortunately sends up a great amount of smoke from the pyre. During the funeral, everyone is given a drug which reveals to Nadia her totem of the eagle. Jaguar and Eagle are initiated into the clan. Alex, being fifteen, is put through a rite of passage into manhood; during the ceremony, unusual things happen. Firstly, he turns into a jaguar, his totem; secondly, he receives a vision of his mom in the game is on her hospital bed and talking briefly with her. After the ceremonies, the Shaman takes them to visit the Beasts, who live in a city deep within the forest. These Beasts are considered gods by the People of the Mist. Jaguar correctly suck assumes their city to be the famous El Dorado, and he embarks on a journey to visit this place and its inhabitants with Walimai; the mystic's spirit wife, who will guide the group; and Nadia. The city is located inside of an inactive volcano; the only entrance is through a confusing labirynth of lava tunnels and caves. They all decide what to do and how to do it. Upon arrival, Alex and Nadia meet with the “Beasts”. The creatures, which look something like giant sloths, function as the living memory of the tribe by remembering long epic poems recited by Walimai and his predecessors. Fearing the capture of these ancient creatures by western scientists, they warn them to be careful of foreigners (such as the expedition group they both belonged to). In exchange for protecting them, the two children ask for gifts: Nadia the "crystal eggs" and Alex the water of life to save his mom. They both manage to get them, but only by giving up that which was really important to them. Upon returning to the village, they discover that it has been taken over by the Expedition, Carias, and Ariosto. After Nadia convinces the Indians to receive vaccinations, the children realize that the vaccines are actually deadly doses of the measles virus, part of Carias's plan to destroy the Amazonian Indians. Karakawe, an expedition member, is revealed to be an officer of the Department for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples; he is shot by Ariosto. The Indians flee into the woods as a full-fledged gunfight breaks out. Luckily, it stops quickly. Ariosto and his soldiers take captive all of the members of the expedition, while Carias (who was given a serious head wound during the fighting) is airlifted to a hospital. The two children manage to escape; the rest of the men are knocked unconscious by the smell of one of the Beasts. Ariosto is knocked out by the stench and then killed by the Beast. After the People of the Mist reach an agreement with the remaining members of the expedition (they will protect that area with all the power, influence, and money they can muster), they leave. In the end, Eagle and Jaguar must part. She gives Alex the three "crystal eggs", which turn out to be giant diamonds. With the money gained from their sale, it was hoped that they would be able to fund a foundation to keep the World's Eye safe. Alex tells her that the best thing about the trip was meeting her, and they agree that they will be best friends forever.

Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende was born August 2, 1942 in Lima, Peru into a politically connected family. Her father’s first cousin was Salvador Allende, President of Chile from 1970 to 1973. Her father, Tomás Allende was the ambassador to Peru. After her father’s disappearance her mother relocated Isabel and her two siblings to her parents’ home in Santiago, Chile. In Chile, her mother met and married Ramón Huidobro, a diplomat to Bolivia and Beirut. Her family moved a lot because of her stepfather’s job.
According to Isabel’s home page she was married in 1962 at age 20 to Miguel Frías, they had two children Paula and Nicolás. It is amusing to think of the double life Isabel led. By day she was the dutiful, obedient wife raising two small children yet by night she was translating famous romance novelist Barbara Cartland’s romance books and she also became a journalist for a feminist’s magazine. Later, Isabel was fired from her romance book translation job. Unfortunately, she got caught making unauthorized dialog changes to make the women sound smarter and to the endings so that the fairytale endings where changed to a more self reliant, independent woman.
In 1959, she worked with United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization all over Europe that ended in 1965. In 1973, Isabel writes for the magazine Mampato and briefly directs the magazine. She has a very successful year; her play El embajador is performed in Santiago, she has two widely popular television shows on two different stations with two different formats. One is an interview format and another is a humorous show. On September 11, 1973 all of that ends in a coup led by Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. Her father’s first cousin, Salvador Allende was assassinated although the government claimed he committed suicide. Her family escaped assignation and Isabel moved to Venezuela to escape. She then became a columnist in a popular newspaper called El Nacional. She separated from her husband and moved to Spain for a couple of months in 1978 ultimately the marriage ended in 1988.
Isabel began writing a letter to her dying 99 year old grandfather with whom she lived as a child and always adored. It was that letter that would turn into the manuscript The House of the Spirits. The book received critical acclaim and was the career making book/play/movie. The House of Spirits draws on the supernatual with clairvoyance, spirits, and predictions. It is set in the time of the revolutions and shows the familial interactions coupled with a political upheaval and wealthy haciendas. Isabel paints the female characters as strong, independent women who endure physical harm, rapes, and repeated beatings and still maintain their strength of character. It becomes clear that Isabel draws on her personal experiences and uses stories and family members to create her main characters. The House of Spirits was performed in London and also was made into a movie with an all star cast which Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas and Winona Ryder. The House of Spirits is voted the 13th of the top 100 books Germans should read. Seattle, Washington voted Isabelle as a must read author.

Isabel begins the next phase of her life as a prolific writer. Eva Luna is published in Spain the following year and is also translated into English and then published. In 1988 she married her second husband, Willie Gordon. Isabel goes onto publish more than sixteen titles for which she receives great critical acclaim and notoriety. Isabel is known for her particular style of writing, referred to as magical realism. What she does is she paints a real picture of every day happenings and events with believable characters and introduces non-real entities and makes them believable. For example, her characters have supernatural powers, bright green hair and are aware of the spirits around them. Isabel has received the Gabriela Mistral award. Isabel won the Feminist of the Year Award, The Feminist Majority Foundation, USA 1994. She is a highly decorated a celebrated author. For more information please visit http://www.isabelallende.com/index.htm