Isabel Allende: Her Life, Books and Influence on Literature

If you’re a keen reader, you’ve probably heard of Chilean American author Isabel Allende, and may have read one of her 20+ books of fiction and non-fiction.

One of Latin America’s most famous living writers, she primarily writes in Spanish. But her work has been translated into English (and many other languages) and adapted for the big screen, too, so it’s accessible to readers and viewers beyond her homeland.

Isabel Allende Llona was born in 1942 in Peru to Chilean parents (her father was a Chilean diplomat). Her parents separated when she was very young, and she spent a few years of her childhood in Chile with her mother, two siblings, and grandfather. When Allende was 11, her mother remarried and Allende spent the rest of her childhood in Bolivia and Lebanon.

Isabel Allende is related to another famous Chilean, Salvador Allende, President of Chile from 1970 until he was overthrown in the military coup led by General Pinochet in 1973. Isabel’s father was Salvador Allende’s cousin, and while she barely knew him, the coup and President Allende’s death had an enormous effect on her life, leading her to live in exile in Venezuela for 13 years. She writes about Chilean history and then-current events in several of her books, perhaps most poignantly in her 2003 memoir My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile (Mi País Inventado).

During her early life, Allende lived in several countries in Latin America and Europe, thanks to her father’s, stepfather’s, and then husband’s work. In 1988 she married her second husband, an American, and moved to California, where she still lives. She became a U.S. citizen in 1993. 

In 1992, Allende lost her adult daughter, Paula Frias, aged 29, to complications from medication that led to Paula going into a vegetative state. The tragedy inspired her memoir Paula and also prompted Allende to found the Isabel Allende Foundation in 1995. This charity organization has awarded grants to more than 100 nonprofits around the world, delivering life-changing care to hundreds of thousands of women and girls.

Allende moved around a lot as a child because of her stepfather’s work, and she studied at a North American private school in Bolivia and at an English private school in Lebanon. This schooling gave her an international education and outlook and fluency in English. She finished her secondary schooling in Chile.

Allende has had a long, productive, and celebrated writing career. Over four decades she has published 24 books, which have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 75 million copies, making her one of the best-selling authors in the world.

Before her first book was published (The House of the Spirits/La Casa de los Espiritus) in 1982/85, Allende worked as a journalist. She co-founded the first feminist magazine in Chile, Paula, in 1967; worked in television; wrote and produced a play; and wrote children’s stories and magazines. In 1973, after the coup in Chile led by General Pinochet, Allende and her family moved to Venezuela, where they lived for the next 13 years. Allende continued to work as a journalist in Venezuela.

In 1981, the foundations of her first novel, The House of the Spirits, were laid: after learning that her 99-year-old grandfather was dying, Allende wrote a letter to him. This eventually became The House of the Spirits, a magical-realist family saga and the story of an unnamed Latin American country’s turbulent history. (You can hear more about her writing process for the book on a recent Spark and Fire podcast episode.)

Many of Allende’s works of fiction revolve around historical events. In some (like The House of the Spirits and Eva Luna) the author fictionalized the setting, although readers are encouraged to read between the lines and consider Chile to be the true setting. In other, more recent novels (The Japanese Lover and Long Petal to the Sea), a more identifiable, factually accurate historical setting is depicted.

Allende has received dozens of awards and honorary doctorates for her writing, teaching, and contribution to literature. You can see the full list here, but a few highlights include:

With more than 75 million book sales in multiple languages, it’s safe to say that Allende is widely and wildly acclaimed. She is a fairly rare author who has achieved widespread popularity among general readers and acclaim among literary critics. She herself, and her books, have been the subject of many academic literary studies, and she’s an essential part of the Latin American Spanish literary canon.

Which are the best Isabel Allende books? That’s a matter of personal opinion, but all have been popular to a degree. From most recent to earliest, here are all the books written by Allende over the course of her career. The titles are in English, and the dates of publication refer to the English-language publication; typically, the original Spanish title was released a year or two before the translation: