Isabelle Allende talks about Ripper and her other books

One of my top favorites from the archive.

Isabelle Allende’s books are a seductive blend of magical realism, accurate historical details and exude the alluring scent of Chilean jasmine. She comes into my recording studio trailing the scent of sweet vanilla and something musky, perhaps sandalwood. We sit and talk like old friends—about books and life.

She revels that she puts on full make up, stockings and, shockingly, a girdle—plus other clothes, of course—just to walk down a path in her garden to her writing studio. 

Chilean-American author Allende has written more than 25 books—translated into 42 languages and selling more than 77 million copies. The first one I read was The House of the Spirits, published in 1982 and made into a film starring the incomparable Meryl Streep, Winona Rider and Antonio Banderas. Then I read Eva Luna and Of Love and Shadows. Then, I read all the rest. 

Tragedies, fortunes (made and lost), political careers, women in the kitchen and striving (and thriving) in the male-dominated world. 

Ripper is an atmospheric, fast-paced thriller involving a stunningly brilliant teenaged sleuth who must unmask a serial killer in Allende’s adopted city of San Francisco.

She has won a multitude of awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

www.isabelleallende.com