Isabel Allende

Maya's Notebook is a startling novel of suspense from New York Times bestselling author Isabel Allende. This contemporary coming-of-age story centers upon Maya Vidal, a remarkable teenager abandoned by her parents. Maya grew up in a rambling old house in Berkeley with her grandmother Nini, whose formidable strength helped her build a new life after emigrating from Chile in 1973 with a young son, and her grandfather Popo, a gentle African-American astronomer. When Popo dies, Maya goes off the rails. Along with a circle of girlfriends known as "the vampires," she turns to drugs, alcohol, and petty crime--a downward spiral that eventually leads to Las Vegas and a dangerous underworld, with Maya caught between warring forces: a gang of assassins, the police, the FBI, and Interpol. Her one chance for survival is Nini, who helps her escape to a remote island off the coast of Chile. In the care of her grandmother's old friend, Manuel Arias, and surrounded by strange new acquaintances, Maya begins to record her story in her notebook, as she tries to make sense of her past and unravel the mysteries of her family and her own life.

Un pasado persigui ndola. Un futuro a n por construir. Y un cuaderno para escribir toda una vida. "Soy Maya Vidal, diecinueve a os, sexo femenino, soltera, sin un enamorado, por falta de oportunidades y no por quisquillosa, nacida en Berkeley, California, pasaporte estadounidense, temporalmente refugiada en una isla al sur del mundo. Me pusieron Maya porque a mi Nini le atrae la India y a mis padres no se les ocurri otro nombre, aunque tuvieron nueve meses para pensarlo. En hindi, maya significa 'hechizo, ilusi n, sue o'. Nada que ver con mi car cter. Atila me calzar a mejor, porque donde pongo el pie no sale m s pasto". "Esta Maya me ha hecho sufrir m s que ning n otro de mis personajes. En algunas escenas le habr a dado unas cachetadas para hacerla entrar en raz n, y en otras la habr a envuelto en un apretado abrazo para protegerla del mundo y de su propio coraz n atolondrado". --Isabel Allende ENGLISH DESCRIPTION A startling novel of suspense and resilience from New York Times bestselling author of The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende. This contemporary coming-of-age story centers upon Maya Vidal, a remarkable teenager abandoned by her parents. Maya grew up in a rambling old house in Berkeley with her grandmother Nini, whose formidable strength helped her build a new life after emigrating from Chile in 1973 with a young son, and her grandfather Popo, a gentle African-American astronomer. When Popo dies, Maya goes off the rails. Along with a circle of girlfriends known as "the vampires," she turns to drugs, alcohol, and petty crime-a downward spiral that eventually leads to Las Vegas and a dangerous underworld, with Maya caught between warring forces: a gang of assassins, the police, the FBI, and Interpol. Her one chance for survival is Nini, who helps her escape to a remote island off the coast of Chile. In the care of her grandmother's old friend, Manuel Arias, and surrounded by strange new acquaintances, Maya begins to record her story in her notebook, as she tries to make sense of her past and unravel the mysteries of her family and her own life.

As a girl, Clara del Valle can read fortunes, make objects move as if they had lives of their own, and predict the future. Set in an unnamed Latin American country over three generations, The House of the Spirits is a magnificent epic of a proud and passionate family, secret loves and violent revolution.

From the sugar plantations of Saint-Domingue to the lavish parlors of New Orleans at the turn of the 19th century, Isabel Allende's latest novel tells the story of a mulatta woman, a slave and concubine, determined to take control of her own destiny in a society where that would seem impossible.

Nok en medrivende historisk roman fra Allendes hånd. Denne med utgangspunkt i Haiti mot slutten av 1700-tallet. Den unge Zarité, som går under navnet Tété, er mot slutten av 1700-tallet slave på øya som senere ble hetende Haiti. Som 9-åring blir hun solgt til den rike sukkerplantasjeeieren Toulouse Valmorain. Dette danner opptakten til en historisk roman med alle de ingrediensene Isabel Allende virkelig har grepet på: dramatiske skjebnefortellinger, sterke kvinner og en rekke rørende livshistorier.«Øya under havet, der tittelen spiller på slavenes formening om et hinsidig paradis ? viser en Isabel Allende i godt slag. Hun har fått solid hjelp fra radarparet Kari og Kjell Risvik, som står for nok en stødig oversettelse.» Anne Cathrine Straume, NRK P2 «Øya under havet er en særdeles underholdende roman som må ha krevd mye forarbeid for å sikre at det historiske bakteppet skulle være korrekt »Turid Larsen, Dagsavisen «Allende er en stor forteller.» Vigdis Moe Skarstein, Adresseavisen

"My name is Eva, which means "life", according to a book of names my mother consulted. I was born in the back room of a shadowy house, and grew up amidst ancient furniture, books in Latin, and human mummies, but none of those things made me melancholy, because I came into the world with a breath of the jungle in my memory." Isabel Allende tells the sweet and sinister story of an orphan who beguiles the world with her astonishing visions, triumphing over the worst of adversity and bringing light to a dark place.

La azarosa historia de una esclava en el Santo Domingo del siglo XVIII que lograr librarse de los estigmas que la sociedad le ha impuesto para conseguir la libertad. Para ser una esclava en el Saint-Domingue de finales del siglo XVIII, Zarit hab a tenido buena estrella: a los nueve a os fue vendida a Toulouse Valmorain, un rico terrateniente, pero no conoci ni el agotamiento de las plantaciones de ca a ni la asfixia y el sufrimiento de los trapiches, porque siempre fue una esclava dom stica. Su bondad natural, fortaleza de esp ritu y honradez le permitieron compartir los secretos y la espiritualidad que ayudaban a sobrevivir a los suyos, los esclavos, y conocer las miserias de los amos, los blancos. Zarit se convirti en el centro de un microcosmos que era un reflejo del mundo de la colonia: el amo Valmorain, su fr gil esposa espa ola y su sensible hijo Maurice, el sabio Parmentier, el militar Relais y la cortesana mulata Violette, Tante Rose, la curandera, Gambo, el apuesto esclavo rebelde# y otros personajes de una cruel conflagraci n que acabar a arrasando su tierra y lanz ndolos lejos de ella. Al ser llevada por su amo a Nueva Orleans, Zarit inici una nueva etapa en la que alcanzar a su mayor aspiraci n: la libertad. M s all del dolor y del amor, de la sumisi n y la independencia, de sus deseos y los que le hab an impuesto a lo largo de su vida, Zarit pod a contemplarla con serenidad y concluir que hab a tenido buena estrella. «En mis cuarenta a os, yo, Zarit Sedella, he tenido mejor suerte que otras esclavas. Voy a vivir largamente y mi vejez ser contenta porque mi estrella -mi z'etoile- brilla tambi n cuando la noche est nublada. Conozco el gusto de estar con el hombre escogido por mi coraz n cuando sus manos grandes me despiertan la piel. He tenido cuatro hijos y un nieto, y los que est n vivos son libres. Mi primer recuerdo de felicidad, cuando era una mocosa huesuda y desgre ada, es moverme al son de los tambores y sa es tambi n mi m s reciente felicidad, porque anoche estuve en la plaza del Congo bailando y bailando, sin pensamientos en la cabeza, y hoy mi cuerpo est caliente y cansado. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION From the sugar plantations of Saint-Domingue to the lavish parlors of New Orleans at the turn of the 19th century, the latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Isabel Allende (In s of My Soul, The House of the Spirits, Portrait in Sepia) tells the story of a mulatta woman, a slave and concubine, determined to take control of her own destiny. Born a slave on the island of Saint-Domingue, Zarit --known as T t --is the daughter of an African mother she never knew and one of the white sailors who brought her into bondage. T t surivves a childhood of brutality and fear, finding solace in the traditional rhythms of African drums and in her exhilarating initiation into the mysteries of voodoo. When twenty-year-old Toulouse Valmorain arrives on the island in 1770, he discovers that running his father's plantation, Saint Lazare, is neither glamorous nor easy. Marriage also proves problematic when, eight years later, he brings home a bride. But it is his teenaged slave T t who becomes Valmorain's most inportant confindant. A heartwrenching and powerful story story of an extraordinary woman who forges her identity and finds love and freedom under the cruelest of circumstances. Isabelle Allende has done it again. "Allende is a master storyteller at the peak of her powers." -- Los Angeles Times

Kingdom of the Golden Dragon, the second book of Isabel Allende's page-turning adventure trilogy, follows Alexander Cold, his grandmother, and his irrepressible friend Nadia Santos into a forbidden kingdom in the Himalayas to find the legendary statue of the Golden Dragon. Available in trade paperback for the first time, this heart-pounding coming-of-age novel from Allende, acclaimed author of The Sum of Our Days and The House of the Spirits, "combines action, drama, and a cautionary tale of the decimation of ancient ways that occurs in the name of progress." (Indianapolis Star)

In The Forest of the Pygmies, the final book in Isabel Allende's page-turning adventure trilogy, young Alexander Cold, his friend Nadia Santos, and his grandmother Kate Cold go on assignment to Africa, where they discover a hidden world of corruption and slavery. Available in trade paperback for the first time, this thrilling coming-of-age novel from Allende, acclaimed author of The Sum of Our Days and The House of the Spirits, is "packed with hair-raising near misses and vivid glimpses of Africa's landscapes, tribal customs, and wildlife." (Kirkus Reviews)

Die junge Brasilianerin Nadia und der aus Kalifornien stammende Alex erleben gemeinsam phantastische Abenteuer, die sie quer über die Kontinente führen: vom Amazonasgebiet über den Himalaja in die afrikanischen Urwälder. Und immer wieder ist es ihren Totemtieren, dem Adler, ? Aguila?, und ? Jaguar?, zu verdanken, daß sie in den schwierigsten Momenten eine glückliche Lösung finden.

A brilliant memoir from the celebrated Chilean novelist on friends, family and life in California, her adopted home. Isabel Allende has sold more than 50 million copies of her books worldwide. The most beloved and successful of her books, ‘The House of the Spirits’, was based on her Chilean childhood, and her autobiographical works include the deeply moving ‘Paula’ – a family history written at the bedside of her daughter while she lay in a coma – and the fascinating ‘My Invented Country’, which explored the events of her native Chile where she lived until Pinochet’s military coup. Now, in ‘The Sum of the Days’, we have Isabel describe in an exceptionally vivid, human and deeply personal way her life in California where she has lived for more than 25 years. The first page picks up from where Paula ends – her daughter never did wake up from her coma and died in 1992 – when Allende recounts spreading Paula’s ashes in her favourite part of the woods by their home. It is fair to say that Isabel has never recovered from losing her daughter but has managed to survive by keeping her husband, son, grandchildren as well as close friends – kindred spirits – central to her life. ‘The Sum of the Days’, based on Allende’s own journals and daily correspondence with her mother in Chile, reveals the author to be a dazzling, generous, warm and hysterically funny matriarch within her swirl of family and friends.

Als junge Frau verl??t In?s Sußrez im 16. Jahrhundert ihr Heimatland Spanien, um auf dem wilden s?damerikanischen Kontinent nach ihrem verschollenen Ehemann zu suchen. Ihn wird sie nicht mehr leb finden, daf?r aber ihre gro?e Liebe: den Feldherrn Pedro de Valdivia, mit dem sie sich gegen alle Widerst?nde an die Eroberung Chiles macht. Mit viel Hingabe und Einf?hlungsverm?gen verleiht Isabel Alle in ihrem Weltbestseller der historischen Gestalt der In?s Sußrez ein Gesicht und eine Stimme und nimmt ihre Leser mit auf eine packe Reise durch ein bewegtes und beweges Leben.