Is there a special kind of courage that is required to tell your deeply personal story? And is that a type of courage that is innate to women? In each case I have learnt about myself and because every book is a reflection of the person I am, I assume that in subtle ways writing memoirs makes me a better person and a better writer. In a memoir feelings are more important that facts and to write honestly I have to confront my demons. In a memoir I look at myself, my life, and the people I love the most in the mirror of the blank screen.
How does the act of writing memoir change you the writer?Ī memoir forces me to stop and remember carefully. I hope that in some cases the book opened up a space to grief openly, to share feelings and experiences, to understand that we come to this world to lose everything and there is nothing wrong about that.
Fifteen years later I still get letters every day from people who felt touched by my daughter’s story. I never imagined, however, that it would have such an incredible response from the readers. After sharing the manuscript with some members of our family, including Paula’s widower, we decided to publish it because we thought that it could help other people in times of loss. I knew that the only way to deal with my grief was writing and that’s how the memoir came to be. Isabel Allende: After my daughter Paula died I was confused, depressed, angry. In bringing to the world your two memoirs, Paula and The Sum of Our Days, was there the intuition that these books could instigate change for others in a personal way? Is this the kind of change that could ultimately motivate readers to take action in the world to make a difference in people's lives?
Born in Chile, she is a lifelong advocate for human rights, a passionate speaker, and the founder of the Isabel Allende Foundation. Isabel Allende's many books, including The House of the Spirits and Paula, have sold more than 51 million copies and been translated into 30 languages.
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