She went on to publish Of Love and Shadows and Eva Luna, also to critical acclaim. The book was a wild success, eventually becoming a classic in countries from her native Chile to faraway Sweden.

Unable to return to his side in his last days, she began writing him a letter that became the manuscript for her 1982 novelistic debut, The House of the Spirits. In exile literature gave me a voice, it rescued my memories from the curse of oblivion, it enabled me to create a universe of my own.'Īllende's road to becoming a bestselling international author truly began when she learned that her 99-year-old grandfather, who had remained in Chile, was dying. Despite the difficulties of being in exile, Allende credits her time in Venezuela with allowing her to stretch her wings as a fiction writer: 'Without the military coup I would have remained in Chile, I would still be a journalist and probably a happy one. I stayed until I couldn't stand it anymore.' Although she never fell in love with the country, she became a long-time resident, writing for the newspaper El Nacional from 1975-1984. As she recalled in one of her speeches: 'I was the last one to leave. The author reluctantly fled to Caracas, Venezuela. Allende's uncle, President Salvador Allende, committed suicide when his administration was overcome in a 1973 military coup. At the same time Allende's writing career was gaining steam, her family life took an extreme turn. From 1971 to 1974 she expanded her writing resume to include the theater, publishing three plays in three years.

Allende gave birth to her son, Nicolas, in 1966.

During that time she also wrote for television shows and film documentaries. Upon her return to Chile she began to establish herself as a journalist, writing for a women's magazine called Paula and a children's magazine called Mampato. Their daughter Paula was born a year later, during the time Allende spent in Europe working with the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. She married her first husband, Miguel Frias, in 1962 at the age of 20. After her parents' divorce, Allende returned to Chile to complete her high school education. Isabel Allende was born in 1942 in Peru, although her ethnicity is Chilean.

Paula frias allende biografia