Isabel Allende

The doyenne of Latin American fiction, Isabel Allende is a Chilean author whose evocative novels defy easy categorisation. A tender letter to her dying grandfather morphed into Allende’s iconic debut novel, The House of the Spirits, published in 1982 to international acclaim. A bewitching family saga that bent the magical realist form to her own very singular vision, the novel also reflected issues of social justice that have been a lifelong concern for Allende. She has since produced over twenty novels, including the vivid picaresque and American Book Award winner Eva Luna and the historical feminist epic Daughter of Fortune.