About the Author

Isabel Allende is the author of twelve works of fiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Maya"s Notebook, Island Beneath the Sea, Inés of My Soul, Daughter of Fortune, and a novel that has become a world-renowned classic, The House of the Spirits. Born in Peru and raised in Chile, she lives in California.

Reviews

"Allende is one of the most important novelists to emerge from Latin America in the past decade." - Boston Globe"Spellbinding. . . . Allende has caught the mood of our spiritually troubled times with uncanny precision and insight." - Miami Herald"An artful blend of aching realism and provocative meditation." - Booklist"The Sum of Our Days is terrific. It's funny, insightful, moving and filled with Allende's unique voice. Her confiding tone invites readers into her mind, her heart, her family, her past. . . . A satisfying heart-to-heart with a wise friend." - USA Today"At the end of this funny, tender book you may find yourself wanting your own invitation to sit and laugh and scream at the author's table. Allende's writing is the main feast. . . . No matter how often relatives stumble or screw up, Allende lovingly takes them, and her reader, into her embrace. A-" - Entertainment Weekly"Ms.Allende . . . executes this epistolary memoir with the same authenticity and poetry that grace her fiction. . . . Allende is a survivor worth reading and emulating." - Dallas Morning News"An exuberant love letter--not only to her daughter, but to her tribe, and anyone lucky enough to belong to one. . . . One of the most compelling threads in the book follows the to-and-fro of Allende's own marriage to Willie. . . . Whether or not they balance life and work and passionate temperaments during a long marriage keeps the reader turning pages." - St. Louis Post-Dispatch"Love, sex, betrayal, reconciliation, grief, death, despair, hope, bright colors, strong women and dashing men are the beans, rice and spice of Isabel Allende's latest book . . . . Allende's memoir voice is chatty, warm, humorous and humble, and, just as she does in her novels, she ends each chapter with a suspenseful flourish, making the book hard to put down." - Minneapolis Star-Tribune"Allende writes with passion and conviction.... Her new novel is ambitious in scope." - Christian Science Monitor"A richly embroidered, ambitious tale...intensely imagined." - Publishers Weekly