My Invented Country

"Here are the almost mythic figures of a Chilean family - grandparents and great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends - with whom readers of Allende's fiction will feel immediately at home. And here, too, is an unforgettable portrait of a charming, idiosyncratic Chilean people with a violent history and an indomitable spirit. Although she claims to have been an outsider in her native land - "I never fit in anywhere, not into my family, my social class, or the religion fate bestowed on me" - Isabel Allende carries with her even today the mark of the politics, myth, and magic of her homeland. In My Invented Country, she explores the role of memory and nostalgia in shaping her life, her books, and that most intimate connection to her place of origin.".